No. 21 South Carolina beats SC State 65-45

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No. 21 South Carolina beats SC State 65-45

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Tiffany Mitchell scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Aleighsa Welch also finished with a double-double and No. 21 South Carolina beat South Carolina State 65-45 on Friday.

Welch finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds - eight offensive - for the Gamecocks (11-1), who bounced back with a strong performance after losing to No. 1 Stanford 53-49 this week. Elem Ibiam scored 11 points and Ieasia Walker had six steals.

South Carolina State's Paris Alston made a jumper to cut the score to 26-21 with 2:47 left in the first half. But South Carolina held the Bulldogs scoreless for nearly eight minutes between the two halves, scoring 15 straight points to claim a 20-point lead - its largest of the contest.

South Carolina State did not score until Tiara Knott made a layup with 15:02 left in the game.

Knott finished with 14 points before fouling out for the Bulldogs (8-3).

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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