South Carolina Women's Basketball Captures Third National Championship

One year after losing an undefeated season to Iowa in the National Semifinal, South Carolina women’s basketball did one better by going undefeated again, meeting Iowa in the National Championship Game this time, and getting the Hawkeyes back with an 87-75 win with all the marbles on the line.

It is South Carolina’s third National Championship in program history, and the 38-0 record completes just the 10th perfect season in women’s college basketball history. The freshmen, those who watched from afar when the Dallas disappointment last year, made the crucial difference. Tessa Johnson and MiLaysia Fulwiley combined for 28 points, flipping the momentum all night.

In similar fashion to some of its biggest wins this year — namely North Carolina and Iowa – everything went wrong for South Carolina in the first quarter. Specifically, the first three minutes. Before the pomp and circumstance of the game had even settled down, Iowa already had a 13-2 lead. The Gamecocks fouled Caitlin Clark twice on 3-point attempts, and she hit five of the six free throws to help the Hawkeyes assert an early advantage.

But in exactly the type of maneuver it could not make last year, South Carolina fought fire with fire. The speedy Hawkeyes ran straight into MiLaysia Fulwiley, the pace-pushing freshman guard who matched Iowa’s guards dragged her team back into the game, scoring a quick seven points to help erase most of the deficit.

Her freshman guard mate Johnson was equally important with the first four points of the second quarter and a crucial 3-pointer later in the frame. But after her red hot 18-point first quarter, Clark slowed down.

Specifically, South Carolina — and Raven Johnson — slowed her down. Johnson, long maligned for her struggles against Clark at both ends of the floor in last year’s Final Four, held the superstar guard to just three points in the second quarter, doggedly chasing through screens and harassing her on every occasion.

And when she poked the ball away from Clark and scored in transition on the final possession of the first half, it capped a 9-2 run for the Gamecocks to end the half and gave them a three-point lead at the break.

Momentum, like a snowball rolling downhill into an avalanche of post touches and quick guard play, carried over after halftime. Four quick Chloe Kitts points after halftime did some damage. Tessa Johnson’s 3-pointers which seemingly touch the rafters helped make sure the ones back in Columbia will be more crowded next year, hitting two in the third quarter.

There was game pressure from Iowa, of course.

What, did you think this would be easy?

A quick 6-0 spurt midway through the fourth quarter chopped a 12-point lead in half, immediately turning Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse into a cauldron of anxiety from all parties involved.

But for most of the year it felt like this was South Carolina’s season, and in the late minutes it became South Carolina’s afternoon.

The rebounding was too much. The size was overwhelming. And when the buzzer ounded, South Carolina officially had one word on its mind.

Dynasty.

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