South Carolina won its second national championship in a largely dominant display Sunday night, leaving no doubt that the Gamecocks were the best team in college basketball for women this season.
A year that South Carolina ran wire-to-wire at No. 1 in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll culminated in a 64-49 victory over the No. 2 seed Connecticut Huskies in the national title game.
The Gamecocks (35-2) were dominant from the jump, and edged out to an 11-2 lead before UConn coach Geno Auriemma called the time-out. Immediately, it was clear that UConn (30-6) had no answer for the size of South Carolina. The Gamecocks defeated the Huskies 12-3 in the first quarter, with seven offensive rebounds. The first quarter ended with South Carolina ahead, 22-8.
For the game, South Carolina finished with a 49-24 rebound advantage.
The leader in that division for South Carolina, as she has been all season, was Aliyah Boston. The female player of the year finished with 11 points and a team-high 16 rebounds for her 30th double-double of the season.
Destanni Henderson scored a career-high and game-high 26 points behind aggressive play, sometimes driving through the track at will.
On the other hand, 2021 player of the year Paige Bueckers had a harder go of things. She still finished playing with 14 points in her home state of Minnesota, but she really had to work for it through a strong defensive effort from South Carolina. She was kept goalless in the first quarter before scoring nine in the second frame.
UConn fought back in that second quarter, outscoring South Carolina 19-13 in the frame, but still stood 35-27 at halftime. The Gamecocks missed nine of their last 10 shots of the quarter to help UConn get back into the game.
South Carolina, however, claimed themselves again from the break, going on an 8-0 run to rebuild the lead to 16 points. But again, the Huskies fought back. UConn went on its own 10-0 run to reduce the deficit to six points before South Carolina scored the final three points of the quarter to take a nine-point lead in the fourth.
After a UConn bucket to open the scoring in the quarter, Henderson responded with two baskets to put the lead back to 11th.
Incredibly, this is the first national championship game Auriemma has lost as head coach of UConn. He came away with 11-0 in the title game on Sunday. UConn last won the title in 2016.
For Dawn Staley, the coach of the year 2022, this title is confirmation of the program she has built in Columbia. South Carolina is currently the eighth program to win multiple national titles, the 2022 team joins the 2017 team as NCAA Tournament Champions.
The Gamecocks were absolutely dominant this season and lost only two games: a one-point defeat to Missouri in overtime and a two-point loss to Kentucky in the SEC tournament final. They defeated all three other no. 1 seed at various points this season. They began the year with a nine-point victory over North Carolina State and defeated defending champion Stanford by four in December before sending Louisville to the Final Four. South Carolina also hit two wins against UConn, one in the Bahamas in November and on Sunday night – the most important of all.
