Zia cooks: USC senior goes on second-half tear, nets 31 points in win over Georgia

South Carolina senior guard Zia Cooke lined up a 3-point shot from the right wing during the fourth quarter Monday of USC’s defensive battle against Georgia.

Her eyes lined up with the rim as she began her release, but she didn’t bother to look after letting the ball go — executing a Steph Curry-esque look-away as her fourth made 3-pointer dropped through the net.

Sometimes when you know, you know. And there was little doubt for Cooke in the second half of a 31-point performance on Monday at Stegeman Coliseum.

“Sometimes when I’m in the gym, I just play around and do that,” Cooke said about her look-away shot. “It just felt good.”

Cooke scored 20 of her game-high 31 points in the second half against the Bulldogs in No. 1 South Carolina’s 68-51 win. She became the first Gamecock since Te’a Cooper in 2018 to score 30 or more points in a game. No one else scored more than eight points for South Carolina on Monday.

UGA packed the paint all night on defense to account for post players Aliyah Boston and Kamilla Cardoso, and Cooke took full advantage.

“She’s really good, and that’s what really good players have to do,” Georgia head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said. “She played 35 minutes and had 31 points. ... Everybody else was being held down.”

Cooke locked into a zone the Bulldogs could not get her out of.

She drained 3-pointers, netting four on Monday. She drew fouls and got to the free throw line, making 11 of her 13 shots there. She even dropped in a high-arcing floater through contact for an and-1 opportunity that cut Georgia’s lead to two points in the third quarter.

Cooke wasn’t as hot in the first half, shooting just 3-of-11 from the field. Cooke said there were times she didn’t want to shoot as often, but head coach Dawn Staley took no issue with the shots she was attempting — and encouraged her to fire away.

“You’re taking great shots, don’t second guess,” Staley recalled telling Cooke. “If you feel it, go ahead and shoot it.”

Cooke’s been South Carolina’s strongest offensive weapon this season.

She leads the Gamecocks (14-0, 2-0 SEC) with 15.3 points per game and 28 made 3-pointers, shooting 37.3% from long distance. USC has gotten two 20-point performances in the 2022-23 season, and Cooke accounts for both of them.

The senior guard from Toledo, Ohio credits her routine and preparation for the success she’s had on offense.

“I’m definitely starting to feel it, and they’re starting to go in for me,” Cooke said after the team’s game against Texas A&M.

Cooke sat at 29 points Monday while walking to the free throw line for the last time in the fourth quarter, and fellow senior Brea Beal was openly yearning for her teammate to cross the 30-point threshold.

“I just grabbed her like, ‘Go ahead and get this 30,’ ” Beal said. “ ‘Come on, this is something we live to see.’”

Cooke delivered, sinking both free throws to secure a new career high.

Cooke has finished as a top-three scorer on USC’s roster in each of her first three seasons. Beal, who’s been her teammate for each of those, harkened back to their freshman year as she watched Cooke make shot after shot.

“I’m so proud of her,” Beal said. “To keep pushing all game, she has those moments where she’s missing, but she just keeps going and I admire that about.”

NEXT FOUR SOUTH CAROLINA WBB GAMES

• Thursday: home vs. Auburn, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

• Sunday: at Mississippi State, 1 p.m. (SEC Network or ESPN2)

• Jan. 12: at Kentucky, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

• Jan. 15: home vs. Missouri, 1 p.m. (SEC Network or ESPN2)