South Carolina’s Dawn Staley couldn’t help but chuckle when asked about the night Auburn fifth-year guard Honesty Scott-Grayson had Thursday night.

“She was a bucket,” Staley said. “I knew she was cooking us. But I wasn’t really looking at her stats throughout the game. And then at the end of the game, I was like, ‘She had 31 on us?’”

Correct, Scott-Grayson pieced together a 31-point night against the Gamecocks Thursday night — tying her career high against the No. 1 team in the country.

Against the Gamecocks, Scott-Grayson didn’t have a ton of offensive help. The Tigers’ next top scorer was Sydney Shaw, who checked in with just six points on 14 minutes of action.

And while Scott-Grayson’s final line might’ve initially come as a surprise to South Carolina’s two-time national championship-winning head coach considering the lopsidedness of Thursday’s game — which the Gamecocks won 76-54 — once Staley had an opportunity to digest it, her shock subsided.

“I’m not surprised,” Staley said. “She’s a veteran player. She’s got some trickery out there that forces you to guard her a certain way. And when you guard her that way, she’ll deviate, she’ll pivot. She did a great job just making us guard her and we didn’t do a very good job with it.”

More: Why South Carolina’s Dawn Staley believes Auburn’s trend under Johnnie Harris isn’t a ‘fluke’

Scott-Grayson got out to a slow start Thursday, only scoring two points in the first quarter as both the Tigers and Gamecocks struggled to find any kind of offensive rhythm. But eventually, Scott-Grayson found her groove, putting up eight points in the second quarter, 11 points in the third quarter and 10 points in the final frame.

With her 31 points, Scott-Grayson became just the third player this season to log 30-plus points against South Carolina, joining Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo (31) and Utah’s Alisa Pili (37). Scott-Grayson’s 30-plus-point effort on Thursday was the first the Gamecocks had given up in SEC play.

Following the game, Scott-Grayson joined Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris in the media room and couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows at the fact that Staley called her “a bucket.”

“Now you’ve put me on the spot,” Scott-Grayson joked when asked about her big night. “Just taking what I can. Being aggressive and going at them and not, you know, I was probably one of the smallest on the floor. But just being aggressive and taking my shots when I had them and whenever I saw that opening to drive, I knew I just had to take advantage of every opportunity.”

When Scott-Grayson came off the floor for the final time Thursday night, she did so to a warm ovation from Auburn’s home crowd with 1:41 to play and the game well out of the Tigers’ reach. She had played in 33 of the game’s possible 38 minutes to that point and her fatigue showed in her ginger walk back to Auburn’s bench.

And while Harris looked to Scott-Grayson to keep Auburn in the game all night, she also looked to put her leading scorer in the position to have the night that she had. It’s a pact the two have.

“We love each other and I wouldn’t trade her for anybody,” Harris said of Scott-Grayson, who was recruited by Harris when she was in eighth grade. “I know she has more in her, so I’m going to continue to push her and she understands that. She used to get mad at me, but I’m pushing her because she says she wants it. So it’s my job to pull the out of her and put her in situations where she can be great. And you know, this doesn’t surprise me from her. And to be honest, I feel like she has more, which I’m going to continue to push her until I get it.”

Following Harris’ ramble about her, Scott-Grayson couldn’t help but smirk and nod her head at her coach.

“That was so sweet,” Scott-Grayson mumbled.