Edwards' 27 lead South Carolina rout of Southern in NCAA opener

Joyce Edwards had 27 points and eight rebounds and No. 1 seed South Carolina won its 17th straight home women's NCAA tournament game with a 103-34 defeat of 16th-seeded Southern on Saturday.

Edwards and the Gamecocks (32-3) opened with a 15-0 burst and never let up against the Jaguars (20-14), the Southwestern Athletic Conference champions.

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South Carolina, already up 25 at the break, outscored Southern 32-2 in the third quarter.

Latson finished with 17 points while Madina Okot and Agot Makeer had 15 points each.

Tessa Johnson had 14 points and a career-high 10 rebounds.

Southern had won its second NCAA Tournament game in the First Four, defeating Samford 65-53.

The Jaguars beat UC San Diego in that round last year before getting drubbed by Final Four team UCLA 84-46.

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This time, the Jaguars ran into a South Carolina team anxious to get the tournament started after a disappointing 78-61 defeat by Texas in the SEC tournament title game on March 8.

Jocelyn Tate had 10 points to lead Southern.

South Carolina will next play either No. 8 seed Clemson or No. 9 seed Southern California in the second round on Monday.