2015–16 South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team

The 2015–16 South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team represented the University of South Carolina during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Gamecocks, led by eighth year head coach Dawn Staley, played their home games at the Colonial Life Arena and were members of the Southeastern Conference. They finished the season 33–2, 16–0 in SEC play to win the SEC regular season and the tournament championship to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA women's tournament. They defeated Jacksonville and Kansas State in the first and second rounds before getting upset by Syracuse in the sweet sixteen.

2015–16 South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball
Rainbow Wahine Showdown Champions SEC Tournament Champions SEC Regular Season Champions
NCAA Women's Tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 5
AP	No. 3
Record	33–2 (16–0 SEC)
Head coach	Dawn Staley (8th season)
Assistant coaches	Lisa Boyer Nikki McCray-Penson Fred Chmiel
Home arena	Colonial Life Arena
Seasons ← 2014–15 2016–17 →

2015–16 SEC women's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 3 South Carolina †	16	–	0		1.000			33	–	2		.943
No. 15 Mississippi State	11	–	5		.688			28	–	8		.778
No. 18 Texas A&M	11	–	5		.688			22	–	10		.688
No. 12 Kentucky	10	–	6		.625			25	–	8		.758
No. 25 Florida	10	–	6		.625			22	–	9		.710
Georgia	9	–	7		.563			21	–	10		.677
Missouri	8	–	8		.500			22	–	10		.688
Tennessee	8	–	8		.500			22	–	14		.611
Auburn	8	–	8		.500			20	–	13		.606
Arkansas	7	–	9		.438			12	–	18		.400
Vanderbilt	5	–	11		.313			18	–	14		.563
Alabama	4	–	12		.250			15	–	16		.484
LSU	3	–	13		.188			10	–	21		.323
Ole Miss	2	–	14		.125			10	–	20		.333
† 2016 SEC tournament winner As of March 27, 2016 Rankings from AP poll

Roster

2015–16 South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown G 0 Shay Colley 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Fr St. Edmund Campion Secondary Brampton, ON G 1 Bianca Cuevas 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) So Nazareth Regional Bronx, NY G 3 Kaydra Duckett 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) So Dreher Columbia, SC G 4 Doniyah Cliney 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) RS Fr Malcolm X Shabazz Newark, NJ G 5 Khadijah Sessions 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Sr North Myrtle Beach North Myrtle Beach, SC G 10 Allisha Gray (I)  6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Jr Washington County North Carolina Sandersville, GA G 15 Tiffany Davis 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) RS So Westbury Christian Houston, TX F 22 A'ja Wilson 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) So Heathwood Hall Hopkins, SC G 23 Tina Roy 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) RS Sr Kaplan Kaplan, LA C 24 Sarah Imovbioh 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) RS Sr St. Anne's-Belfield Virginia Abuja, Nigeria G 25 Tiffany Mitchell 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Sr Providence Day Charlotte, NC G/F 31 Asia Dozier 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Sr Spring Valley Columbia, SC G 35 Kaela Davis (I)  6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Jr Buford Georgia Tech Suwanee, GA F 40 Jatarie White 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) So Providence Day Charlotte, NC C 41 Alaina Coates 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Jr Dutch Fork Irmo, SC G 44 India Farmer 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Jr North Myrtle Beach North Myrtle Beach, SC	Head coach Dawn Staley (Virginia) Assistant coach(es) Lisa Boyer (Ithaca) Nikki McCray-Penson (Tennessee) Fred Chmiel (Alaska–Anchorage) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule

^[1]

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
11/06/2015* 7:00 pm	No. 2	Newberry	W 93–49		Colonial Life Arena  Columbia, SC
Regular season
11/13/2015* 7:00 pm	No. 2	No. 6 Ohio State	W 88–80	1–0	Colonial Life Arena (16,815) Columbia, SC
11/15/2015* 3:00 pm	No. 2	UNC Greensboro	W 91–44	2–0	Colonial Life Arena (13,607) Columbia, SC
11/18/2015* 7:00 pm	No. 2	at Clemson Rivalry	W 67–41	3–0	Jervey Athletic Center (1,030) Clemson, SC
11/22/2015* 4:00 pm, P12N	No. 2	at UCLA	W 68–65	4–0	Pauley Pavilion (2,018) Los Angeles, CA
11/27/2015* 7:30 pm	No. 2	vs. No. 16 Arizona State Rainbow Wahine Showdown	W 60–58	5–0	Stan Sheriff Center  Honolulu, HI
11/28/2015* 6:30 pm	No. 2	vs. Cal State Bakersfield Rainbow Wahine Showdown	W 90–71	6–0	Stan Sheriff Center  Honolulu, HI
11/29/2015* 10:00 pm	No. 2	at Hawaiʻi Rainbow Wahine Showdown	W 67–51	7–0	Stan Sheriff Center (2,073) Honolulu, HI
12/06/2015* 2:00 pm, ESPN2	No. 2	No. 14 Duke	W 66–55	8–0	Colonial Life Arena (16,429) Columbia, SC
12/13/2015* 2:00 pm, SECN	No. 2	Winthrop	W 86–37	9–0	Colonial Life Arena (13,409) Columbia, SC
12/16/2015* 7:00 pm	No. 2	Hampton	W 86–48	10–0	Colonial Life Arena (12,117) Columbia, SC
12/20/2015* 1:00 pm, ASN	No. 2	vs. East Carolina Carolinas Challenge	W 89–57	11–0	Myrtle Beach Convention Center  Myrtle Beach, SC
12/22/2015* 7:00 pm	No. 2	Elon	W 78–63	12–0	Colonial Life Arena (13,670) Columbia, SC
01/03/2016 3:00 pm, ESPNU	No. 2	Arkansas	W 85–32	13–0 (1–0)	Colonial Life Arena (13,407) Columbia, SC
01/07/2016 9:00 pm, SECN	No. 2	at Vanderbilt	W 71–61	14–0 (2–0)	Memorial Gymnasium (2,547) Nashville, TN
01/10/2016 12:00 pm, SECN	No. 2	No. 20 Missouri	W 83–58	15–0 (3–0)	Colonial Life Arena (15,934) Columbia, SC
01/14/2016 7:00 pm, SECN	No. 2	at No. 9 Kentucky	W 73–62	16–0 (4–0)	Memorial Coliseum (5,527) Lexington, KY
01/17/2016 1:00 pm, ESPN2	No. 2	No. 15 Texas A&M	W 59–58	17–0 (5–0)	Colonial Life Arena (15,406) Columbia, SC
01/21/2016 7:00 pm	No. 2	at Auburn	W 74–58	18–0 (6–0)	Auburn Arena (2,419) Auburn, AL
01/24/2016 5:00 pm, ESPN2	No. 2	at No. 10 Mississippi State	W 57–51	19–0 (7–0)	Humphrey Coliseum (10,626) Starkville, MS
01/28/2016 7:00 pm	No. 2	Ole Miss	W 81–62	20–0 (8–0)	Colonial Life Arena (14,313) Columbia, SC
01/31/2016 6:00 pm, ESPNU	No. 2	at No. 10 Texas A&M	W 70–63	21–0 (9–0)	Reed Arena (8,511) College Station, TX
02/04/2016 7:00 pm, SECN	No. 2	No. 18 Kentucky	W 78–68	22–0 (10–0)	Colonial Life Arena (15,015) Columbia, SC
02/08/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN2	No. 2	No. 1 Connecticut	L 54–66	22–1	Colonial Life Arena (18,000) Columbia, SC
02/11/2016 7:00 pm	No. 2	No. 16 Florida	W 86–71	23–1 (11–0)	Colonial Life Arena (13,324) Columbia, SC
02/15/2016 7:00 pm, ESPN2	No. 3	at No. 24 Tennessee	W 62–56	24–1 (12–0)	Thompson–Boling Arena (12,014) Knoxville, TN
02/18/2016 7:00 pm	No. 3	Georgia	W 61–51	25–1 (13–0)	Colonial Life Arena (16,186) Columbia, SC
02/22/2016 7:00 pm, SECN	No. 3	at Alabama	W 66–46	26–1 (14–0)	Foster Auditorium (2,649) Tuscaloosa, AL
02/25/2016 9:00 pm, SECN	No. 3	at Ole Miss	W 66–45	27–1 (15–0)	The Pavilion at Ole Miss (1,473) Oxford, MS
02/28/2016 2:00 pm, ESPNU	No. 3	LSU	W 75–39	28–1 (16–0)	Colonial Life Arena (16,240) Columbia, SC
SEC Women's Tournament
03/04/2016 12:00 pm, SECN	(1) No. 3	vs. (9) Auburn Quarterfinals	W 57–48	29–1	Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena  Jacksonville, FL
03/05/2016 3:00 pm, ESPNU	(1) No. 3	vs. (5) No. 13 Kentucky Semifinals	W 93–63	30–1	Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena  Jacksonville, FL
03/06/2016 2:30 pm, ESPN	(1) No. 3	vs. (3) No. 16 Mississippi State Championship Game	W 66–52	31–1	Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena (6,549) Jacksonville, FL
NCAA Women's Tournament
03/18/2016* 7:30 pm, ESPN2	(1 SF) No. 3	(16 SF) Jacksonville First Round	W 77–41	32–1	Colonial Life Arena (10,276) Columbia, SC
03/20/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN	(1 SF) No. 3	(9 SF) Kansas State Second Round	W 73–47	33–1	Colonial Life Arena (10,048) Columbia, SC
03/25/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN	(1 SF) No. 3	vs. (4 SF) No. 14 Syracuse Sweet Sixteen	L 72–80	33–2	Denny Sanford Premier Center (4,610) Sioux Falls, SD
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. SF=Sioux Falls Region. All times are in Eastern Time.

Rankings

Main article: 2015–16 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings

Ranking Movement
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes.

Poll	Pre	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18	Wk 19	Final
AP	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	N/A
Coaches	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	5

See also

2015–16 South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball team