No. 2 Georgia (7-1) held off a strong showing by No. 7 South Carolina (3-5) to win 11-8 in its first meet since November.

Despite not competing for months, the team was ready to pick up where it had left off, Georgia head coach Meghan Boenig said.

“They did not look rusty,” she said. “The scores may look lower in some spots, but it wasn’t because of rust.”

Senior Michelle Morris started off equitation for Georgia, beating South Carolina’s Carolyn Curcio 79-77.

Grace Rodgers and Kylee Arbuckle followed suit, beating Katherine Schmidt and Amber Henter head-to-head, and Georgia claimed a 3-2 lead at the end of the first event.

 “I think they came out every single ride ready and prepared,” Boenig said. “Even with it being such a close match, watching particularly that horsemanship just really be aggressive, that’s what we need to be practicing … It’s great to see that.”

But the Gamecocks came charging back in equitation over fences, with wins by Curcio, Henter and Kimberly McCormack.

“I give USC in hunt seat a lot of credit,” Boenig said. “They’re very smooth, particularly over fences. I think they just caught us a hair off guard and we need to push just a hair more in a couple of spots. There were just little outside factors, whether it be horse influence or not, that kept it really tight.”

The Gamecocks’ less-than-stellar record is not a reliable indication of their talent, she said.

“This is a very good team that has had some rotten fall luck,” Boenig said. “They are going to be a bigger and bigger contention. I really predict they will way outdo their ranking come nationals.”

After the first two events, the score was tied 5-5, but Georgia ran away with the match in the third event, horsemanship.

Paige Stawicki, Katelyn Van Allen, Sara Parr and Megan Hawkins came away with four consecutive wins to give the Bulldogs a 9-6 lead going into Reining.

“South Carolina’s good,” Arbuckle said. “They came and showed us we had to step up our game and we did.”

Georgia and South Carolina split the final event, reining, with each team taking away two points.

Freshmen Sami Belcher and Lauren Tieche won for the Bulldogs, while Cody McMillion and Amanda Pope earned points for the Gamecocks.

“We’re both very good teams,” Parr said. “We both work really hard. It’s a big rivalry for us, South Carolina and UGA, but we also can compete and it be a friendly competition. When both teams are toward the top then you’re going to have to fight for that win, and I think at the end we were able to pull it through and that’s good.”