How South Carolina women's basketball completed its revenge tour to win NCAA championship
CLEVELAND – As the confetti rained down on her, Dawn Staley let the emotions go.
For the South Carolina women's basketball coach, avenging last season’s Final Four loss to defeat Iowa, 87-75, in the NCAA Tournament title game on Sunday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, became all too much.
When the final buzzer sounded, Staley couldn’t hold back the stinging memories of last season. Neither could she hold off the relief of winning this one, which marked the No. 1 seeded Gamecocks (38-0) as the 10th national champion with a perfect record.
“It's heavy. You carry the burden of every single one of your players, all the coaches and staff members that put so much into our team. And it's a heavy load to be undefeated, to finish the job,” Staley said. “And you get emotional because you just want that for them, and you're happy that you're able to.”
This wasn’t supposed to happen. At least not this season, not this way. Last season’s team – sure. Five players all selected in the WNBA Draft. A dominant force from the beginning. But they fell short.
This season’s team? Yes, there’s senior center Kamilla Cardoso, an All-American projected to be picked in the top five of the draft. And senior guard Te-Hina Paopao, a sharpshooting Oregon transfer who worked her way to an All-American selection – but she wasn’t even a preseason All-SEC pick.
No, this team wasn’t expected to win a national title in undefeated fashion.
Yet here they were.
This ragtag group, Staley’s daycare, became her third national championship team in seven years, moving the conversation squarely into the dynasty category.
“I can’t even put it into words,” Paopao said. “The emotions haven’t quite set in yet. There’s a lot of happy tears. I’m just glad I made the right decision to come here.”
Way back in September, South Carolina set its sights on this moment. Sophomore guard Raven Johnson called it the revenge tour. It was personal for her, too, after getting embarrassed by Iowa star Caitlin Clark in a viral moment.
Though Clark scored 30 points for the No. 1-seeded Hawkeyes (34-5) on Sunday, Johnson shut her down after the first quarter, allowing just 12 points while blocking two of Clark’s shots and stealing the ball for a layup right before halftime.
Like Staley, the victory proved a cathartic release for Johnson.
“All I have to say is, the revenge tour is over,” Johnson said.
This is the stage South Carolina wanted.
For a team that played so fast and loose all season, who never felt mounting pressure of an undefeated record that kept getting bigger and more impressive, it seemed the only thing the Gamecocks were focused on all season was getting back here and making it right.
“What’s the word pressure with this team?” Paopao said. “We don’t even know what that is. Usually when players get off the court, they talk about basketball. We don’t talk about basketball, we just talk about other things.”
They were loose throughout March Madness, smothering Presbyterian and North Carolina in the first two rounds at home, then held off Indiana and Oregon State in Albany, New York to win the regional. They carried the momentum to a dominant win over NC State in the Final Four.
On Sunday, when the Gamecocks needed to lock in while down 11 points to the Hawkeyes in the first quarter, South Carolina was never fazed.
Freshman guard Tessa Johnson came off the bench to lead South Carolina’s counterpunch, scoring a career-high 19 points. The Gamecocks turned the deficit into a 14-point lead, then sailed to victory by outscoring the Hawkeyes by 19 over the last three quarters.
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Even Staley didn’t expect this team to go undefeated. Back at the beginning of the season, South Carolina had little chemistry and even less experience. The odds of a national championship were low; the chances of an undefeated season were lower.
“I don't think that's talked about enough, what we've been able to do, and I don't know why,” Staley said. “And I really don't care why. We're going to keep doing what we're doing the right way, whether we are the popular or unpopular successful programs in the country. We're going to keep doing it that way.”
Evan Gerike covers South Carolina women's basketball for the Greenville News. Email him at egerike@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanGerike.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: How South Carolina women's basketball completed its revenge tour