COLUMBIA – South Carolina women’s basketball got an unexpected early taste Sunday of what it’s going to be like for a couple games without its top player.

And it’s not going to be easy.

Kamilla Cardoso, a 6-foot-7 center who leads top-ranked South Carolina in scoring and rebounding, will travel to Brazil this week to join that national team for an Olympic qualifying tournament.

She will miss South Carolina’s next two games, both at home, 7 p.m. Thursday against Missouri and 2 p.m. Feb. 11 against nationally ranked Connecticut.

“We want the best players on our team,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “Sometimes the best players are the best players who represent their country. When we recruited her, we told her that if there’s an opportunity to go with your national team, go with your national team.

Cardoso scored 17 points Sunday in an 85-56 victory against Ole Miss at Colonial Life Arena. She had 10 straight points to provide a spark and push South Carolina (21-0, 9-0) toward an 85-56 win against Ole Miss at Colonial Life Arena.

She averages 13.7 points with 10.1 rebounds and scored in double figures for the sixth straight game.

The learning curve without Cardoso started barely a minute into the game as she was called for her second foul. She sat out the rest of the first quarter. South Carolina’s lead on Ole Miss (16-6, 6-3) was only one point.

She had a little trouble getting into the flow after that and had four points at halftime. It was still tight, but the Gamecocks scored the last eight points before the break for a 40-31 lead.

“It’s unfortunate that she did pick up those two early fouls,” Staley said. “But it gave us an opportunity to gain some experience playing without her. We have two games that we have to play without her. … We’ll see if those experiences pay dividends for us on Thursday.”

Cardoso has become a centerpiece in her senior season. Staley said she hopes the experience in Brazil helps develop that aspect even more.

“I do think she needs to get more and more comfortable being the focal point,” Staley said. “It’s a natural thing for us to do that for her. It’s probably a little unnatural for her to be the centerpiece because she’s very unselfish. But with what her national team is going to need from her, she’s going to have to shoulder some of that. I’m hoping they put her in good positions where we want and that she embraces being a focal point.”

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Why Kamilla Cardoso will miss South Carolina-UConn for Olympic qualifying