Latson, Edwards lead No. 3 South Carolina to 106-42 win over North Carolina Central

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Ta'Niya Latson scored a season-high 32 points and Joyce Edwards 25 as No. 3 South Carolina rolled past North Carolina Central 106-42 on Sunday, despite missing ill starter Tessa Johnson and losing Madina Okot to injury in the first half.

Johnson had 20 points to lead the Gamecocks (9-1) to a 79-77 victory at Louisville this past Thursday, but came down with an illness and was held out. Okot, the 6-foot-6 Mississippi State transfer averaging 15 points and 11 rebounds, came off the floor midway through the second quarter and did not return.

Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley said afterwards that Okot was feeling sick. “It's going around,” she said.

The absences had South Carolina off balance early on and kept the Eagles (1-8) hanging around longer than some in the crowd expected.

North Carolina Central hit three of its first four shots to lead 7-4 before South Carolina got going behind Edwards to close the first quarter with a 22-7 run. Edwards had had two three-point plays and 12 points during that stretch as the Gamecocks outscored North Carolina Central 22-10 in the paint to take control.

The Gamecocks came out with some fire after the break on both sides of the ball. Latson hit a pair of 3-pointers as South Carolina opened with a 25-0 run. The Eagles missed their first 12 shots of the period and ended up getting outscored 28-2.

Tierney Coleman led North Carolina Central with 14 points.

South Carolina's defense forced 36 turnovers and had 10 blocks against the Eagles.

South Carolina's Okot came in leading the country with seven double-doubles. She was not on the bench when the team returned in the second half, coming out of the locker room midway through the third quarter. Okot finished with 10 points and a rebound shy of another double-double in 11 first-half minutes.

South Carolina's roster had just 10 players after expected post players Ashlyn Watkins and Chloe Kitts were lost for the season with injuries. While the attrition has continued in the season's opening month, Staley blocks it out as best she can.

Staley concentrates on who is available to play. “We got eight (players) today. I only see eight. We got reduced to seven, I only see seven,” she said. “We're just going to play the hand that we're dealt to the best of our ability.”

North Carolina Central goes to High Point on Dec. 14.

South Carolina hosts Penn State on Dec. 14.

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South Carolina center Madina Okot, left, pulls down an offensive rebound against North Carolina Central forward Dianna Blake during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Columbia, S.C., Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

South Carolina guard Ayla McDowell (24) looks to shoot against North Carolina Central guard Shakiria Foster (10) and forward Dianna Blake during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Columbia, S.C., Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

South Carolina guard Maddy McDaniel (1) drives to the basket against North Carolina Central forward Dianna Blake during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Columbia, S.C., Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

South Carolina forward Joyce Edwards (8) drives to the basket against North Carolina Central forward Aniya Finger (24), guard Tierney Coleman (4) and forward Dianna Blake (15) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Columbia, S.C., Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

South Carolina guard Ta'Niya Latson (00) drives against North Carolina Central guard Najah Lane during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Columbia, S.C., Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia on Sunday welcomed the Trump administration’s new national security strategy in comments by the Kremlin spokesman published by Russia’s Tass news agency.

Dmitry Peskov said the updated strategic document was largely in line with Moscow’s vision.

“There are statements there against confrontation and in favor of dialogue and building good relations,” he said, adding that Russia hopes this would lead to “further constructive cooperation with Washington on the Ukrainian settlement.”

The document released Friday by the White House said the U.S. wants to improve its relationship with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah and that ending the war is a core U.S. interest to “reestablish strategic stability with Russia.”

The spokesman's comments came as Russian missile, drone and shelling attacks overnight and Sunday killed at least four people in Ukraine, after U.S. and Ukrainian officials wrapped up a third day of talks aimed at ending the war.

A man was killed in a drone attack on Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region Saturday night, local officials said, while a combined missile and drone attack on infrastructure in the central city of Kremenchuk caused power and water outages. Kremenchuk is home to one of Ukraine’s biggest oil refineries and is an industrial hub.

Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the cold.

Three people were killed and 10 others wounded Sunday in shelling by Russian troops in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, according to the regional prosecutor's office.

The latest round of attacks came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday he had a “substantive phone call” with American officials engaged in talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Florida. He said he had been given an update over the phone by U.S. and Ukrainian officials at the talks.

“Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.

Speaking on Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum, U.S. President Donald Trump’s outgoing Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, said efforts to end the war were in “the last 10 meters.”

He said a deal depended on the two outstanding issues of “terrain, primarily the Donbas,” and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

Russia controls most of Donbas, its name for Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk, which, along with two southern regions, it illegally annexed three years ago. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is in an area that has been under Russian control since early in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and is not in service. It needs reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel, to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.

Kellogg, who is due to leave his post in January, was not present at the talks in Florida.

Separately, officials said the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Germany would participate in a meeting with Zelenskyy in London on Monday.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

FILE- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a Kyrgyzstan-Russia talk at the Administrative complex Yntymak-Manas Ordo, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Nov. 26, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier tests land drones in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)

In this photo, provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, a soldier tests land drones in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)