COLUMBIA — With hardware on the line, South Carolina women's basketball never trailed and held Alabama to 11 first-half points, rolling to a 72-44 victory Thursday night.

The No. 1 Gamecocks (26-0, 13-0 SEC) clinched the No. 1 overall seed in the SEC Tournament and a share of the SEC regular-season title with the win.

While senior center Kamilla Cardoso sat the game out to rest, sophomore forward Ashlyn Watkins stepped in with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Junior guard Bree Hall scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

The victory was No. 600 in coach Dawn Staley's career.

South Carolina started slow for the third straight game, but Alabama (20-8, 7-6) didn't set the pace, either. After five minutes, the Gamecocks held a 4-0 lead, with both buckets coming from Hall. The teams shot a combined 2-for-21 from the field in that time.

Senior guard Te-Hina Paopao fired up the offense with a 3-pointer shortly after the first-quarter media timeout. The Gamecocks proceeded to go on a 22-2 run, including a 19-0 run to start the second quarter. The Crimson Tide didn't score for more than eight minutes in the quarter.

South Carolina locks down Alabama's offense

South Carolina's defense didn't show the same signs of fatigue as the offense, shutting down Alabama in the first half and keeping it to only 11 points. The Crimson Tide finished the half shooting 5-for-32, a 15% rate, and they didn't make a 3-pointer on eight attempts.

The Gamecocks' aggressive defense created seven blocks and six steals before the break and turned 12 Crimson Tide turnovers into 11 points. South Carolina finished with 12 blocks and 10 steals.

Alabama entered the night averaged 74.3 points per game while shooting 44% from the field, but was held to 22% shooting Thursday. Senior guard Sarah Ashlee Barker, Alabama's leading scorer, had four points on 2-of-11 shooting, but played only four minutes in the second half.

Ashlyn Watkins starts for Kamilla Cardoso

With Cardoso out while resting, Watkins earned her fifth start of the season and played as well as she did in her first four starts, when she averaged 12.3 points per game — better than her season average of 9.2 points.

Watkins was especially strong in the second quarter amid South Carolina's 19-0 run. She scored eight points, grabbed three boards and blocked a shot. When she subbed out of the game with a minute left in the half, the Colonial Life Arena crowd gave her a loud ovation.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: South Carolina women's basketball buries Alabama in history-making win