A behind-the-back pass in the Sweet 16 can give someone a confidence boost, especially in a nip-and-tuck matchup that goes down to the wire.

But, it was what South Carolina guard MiLaysia Fulwiley heard from her opponents before one of her incredible plays that truly gave her a spark.

“They were like, come on, come on, she’s not going to score this,” she said. “I just let my confidence finish the rest and it went in. So I was excited to prove my haters wrong.”

Fulwiley more than proved herself in dominant fashion on Friday in a 71-67 victory over Maryland in Birmingham, piling up 23 points as she went 9-for-17 from the field in the win.

The SEC Sixth Player of the Year scored 16 of her 23 points in the second half and 11 in the fourth quarter of the matchup, shooting 4-for-6 from the field and 3-for-4 from the charity stripe in the final 10 minutes.

Would she say she took over the game?

“I wouldn’t say takeover,” she said. “I think I would say I honestly just went out there and tried to help my team get closer to our next goal, the Elite Eight and I think I did that well.”

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said the game was a culmination of all the work Fulwiley put into her game.

Part of it was training on the court, but Staley noted the shift in mindset from the sophomore over the last stretch of another standout season for South Carolina; the coach noted a time during the game where she got onto Fulwiley about effort on defense.

“Lay just wants to win,” Staley said. “This is probably the time that she locks in a little bit more than others because it’s win or go home. There was an instance in this game where I got into her. I got in her big-time.

“Two months ago she wouldn’t be able to recover from it, two months ago. Shut down, we probably would have lost the game because she was the only one that could really manufacture our shots and make baskets. But she just wants to win. I think in those moments is when I feel like I can coach her the most, where she’ll listen the most.”

Plenty of encouragement from her teammates helped, with the leadership from a handful of veterans key for South Carolina yet again this season.

“I think every game I feel like I need to do more,” Fulwiley said. “My teammates, they tell me every game that I need to be on top of my game, do what I do best, driving or scoring period. I think today I was locked in and determined and kind of really scraped forward with what I wanted to do, which was score.”

Regardless of the outcome and what happens, Staley is confident that the sophomore’s growth will be key in her personal journey and for what’s next for everyone involved.

South Carolina is set to face Duke in the Elite Eight on Sunday in Birmingham.

“She’ll go back, tonight, and just reprocess, you know, what happened and then we’ll talk about it maybe tomorrow, maybe another time. But she’s grown to the fact where it gets hot, it gets hot. Everything is not spoken in a soft tone, like it is. Kitchen gets hot when you’re trying to survive in the NCAA Tournament. She’s got to handle that.

“Because it’s not just going to be me, her next coach, her next coach in the WNBA is gonna scream, too, it’s what we do. It’s our livelihood, it is to get their attention. I’m glad she responded.”