2 weeks Ago By Joseph McBride
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley compared the Gamecocks' win over Texas in the Final Four to the national championship game last season , which saw them beat Caitlin Clark and Iowa . Freshman Joyce Edwards starred with 13 points and 11 rebounds in a dominant 74-57 win over the Longhorns , but initially it looked like Texas would run away with it. The Longhorns raced into a 12-4 lead in the first quarter, with sophomore forward Madison Booker scoring six early points after being compared to NBA great Kevin Durant pregame .
But the reigning champions of March Madness fought back, and will now play in Sunday's national championship game for the third time in four seasons. After the game, Staley was asked what the secret was to bouncing back from such a poor start, and referenced the national championship game last season when Clark desperately pushed for Iowa's first title. Clark scored 30 points in that game, and the Hawkeyes took an early lead in the first quarter.
However, just like Texas on Friday, they were outscored in the remaining three quarters as the ruthless Gamecocks took control. On both occasions, Staley has taken an urgent timeout and the overall performance has instantly improved. "In those situations, like, we found ourselves in that situation against Iowa last year in the national championship where we were down 10 or 11 to nothing," Staley said.
"And as a coach, you're just evaluating what's happening out there. "Are we getting good looks? Are we defending at a really high clip and they're making good shots? Which happened. It happened just like Caitlin Clark was hitting shots.
Her natural shots that we say those are shots, okay, that's what she's going to take. "Madison Booker was doing a great job coming off screens and elevating and making shots. She was in a rhythm.
Didn't like that part of it, but we were there. It wasn't like she was getting wide-open looks and we basically said that's their run, so let's go on our run. "Let's tighten up defensively.
Let's tighten up rebounding the basketball. I thought we did a great job rebounding the ball. And then we turned the ball over a lot in the first -- I think we had like nine, had 10 for the half, and then we only ended up turning it over three times the rest of the way, which allows us to rebound better.
"It allows us to do a lot more things actually keep them on offense a little bit longer. And I knew that over the course -- we talked about over the course of 1:35, maybe Booker's pretty J isn't as fluid and maybe her legs aren't giving what they need to give for her to get the lift on her shot. It was just that.
It was just part of being patient and letting the game come to us." South Carolina's win brought an end to Texas' stunning run in the NCAA Tournament, which saw the Longhorns reach the Final Four for the first time since 2003. Head coach Vic Schaefer was emotional when Texas reached the Final Four with a 58-47 win over TCU, and was just as reflective when giving his closing press conference.
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99 a month and you can cancel anytime. "Congratulations to South Carolina. I thought they played well today," Schaefer said.
"They were tough. We always talk about toughness. The game honors toughness.
I thought they were really tough today. And, so, congratulations to them. "You're never ready for today.
I don't have the words...
But one thing I'll say about this group -- several things, but number one, man, what a blessing. God blessed me with an incredible group of young ladies that have won 35 games. They're SEC champions.
They went to the Final Four. They're just an incredible group of young ladies." Schaefer ended his availability by saying: "It's a bittersweet day for all of us, but awfully proud of this team.
Again, I think everybody at University of Texas, especially me, we're grateful for these young ladies and what they've done for our program and our university. They've all been so positive and we're better off for them.".
