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11 hours Ago By Gilbert McGregor
Two of the biggest titans in women's college basketball will meet for a national title as Dawn Staley's South Carolina Gamecocks meet Geno Auriemma's UConn Huskies in the final game of the 2024-25 season. The two teams took different paths to get to this point but were equally as impressive — South Carolina punched its ticket to the title game by pulling away from Texas in the second half of the national semifinal, while UConn delivered the biggest blowout in women's Final Four history with an 85-51 win over UCLA. Although South Carolina reigns in the SEC and UConn is in the Big East, the two teams went head to head earlier in the year.
In fact, Sunday's national title game falls seven weeks to the day of the last time these teams faced off. 📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp The first meeting was one to forget for the Gamecocks, as UConn rolled into Colonial Life Arena and dominated its way into a 29-point road win, snapping South Carolina's 71-game home winning streak. The stakes are much higher this time around, but the teams remain the same.
Here's a look back at what happened the first time around and if that could be a preview of what to expect in this year's title game. WOMEN'S MARCH MADNESS HQ: Live NCAA bracket | TV schedule | Latest news and more Revisiting UConn vs. South Carolina's first meeting in 2025 Huskies' first-half dominance set the tone UConn traveled to Columbia, S.
C. for a non-conference showcase on Sunday, Feb. 16.
The Huskies wasted no time announcing their presence. After one quarter, UConn held a 21-14 lead and it outscored South Carolina 24-9 to take a 45-23 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Huskies got their work done defensively, holding South Carolina to 37.
0 percent shooting from the field in the first half, including an icy 2-of-9 (22.2 percent) from 3-point range. South Carolina led for 15 seconds in the game — a Joyce Edwards layup with 4:07 remaining in the first quarter gave the Gamecocks a two-point advantage, but UConn's Jana El Alfy tied things up with 3:52 left in the frame.
UConn outscored South Carolina 34-12 for the remaining 13:51 in the first half. Auriemma's team never looked back. MORE UCONN NEWS How Paige Bueckers compares to other all-time UConn greats Why isn't Azzi Fudd going to the WNBA? Meet Sarah Strong's family, from WNBA star mom to college basketball dad Revisiting Paige Bueckers' injury history, recovery from ACL tear Explaining Kaitlyn Chen's family tree, Taiwanese heritage Top performers Several of UConn's stars played well in February's showdown, but it was Azzi Fudd's show.
Fudd canned six 3-pointers en route to a game-high 28 points (on 50.0 percent shooting) to go along with five rebounds and two assists. Fudd was one of four UConn players to score in double figures, while six players scored eight or more points.
After Fudd, freshman Sarah Strong scored 16 points, pulled down 13 rebounds and dished out four assists, Paige Bueckers recorded 12 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds; and Kaitlyn Chen scored 10 points in 18 minutes of action. In an otherwise forgettable night for South Carolina, freshman Joyce Edwards finished with a team-high 17 points off the bench while reserve MiLaysia Fulwiley added 11 points. With 10 points (on 3-of-11 shooting), Te-Hina Paopao was the highest-scoring South Carolina starter, but the team's starting unit shot a combined 11-of-34 (32.
4 percent) from the field. Perhaps bigger than the margin of victory itself was UConn's 48-29 advantage on the boards, a key to the rematch in the national championship. MORE SOUTH CAROLINA NEWS How Dawn Staley built South Carolina roster after 2024 national championship Why Chloe Kitts uses coloring books before games What the coaches said "The team that took the floor against UConn really wasn't our team," Staley said of the blowout loss.
"So as a coach, you have a tendency to think 'Hey, it ain't just about basketball. What is it about?' Staley followed up days later, saying, "We apologized for our performances, and we move on." "We had a come to Jesus meeting if you will.
.. We apologized for our performances and we move on.
" Today after practice, #Gamecock HC Dawn Staley was asked & followed up about her post-game comments from Sunday's loss to #UConn ⬇️ @abc_columbia https://t.co/kaiGRJvxVR pic.twitter.
com/jGYNKQVAuo Auriemma acknowledged how challenging it is to compete with a team like South Carolina before crediting the win to his team's mindset. "And I think that, more than anything else, was evident today — that we played to win, that there wasn’t any, ‘I hope I don’t miss the shot. I hope I don’t.
I’m not going to take the shot because I don’t want to miss it.'" MORE WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR NEWS SN expert picks, predictions for Women's Final Four Projecting where Paige Bueckers, Kiki Iriafen will go in latest WNBA mock draft Full list of programs to win back-to-back Women's NCAA basketball titles How Paige Bueckers can pass Caitlin Clark's all-time NCAA tournament scoring record.
