Iowa dashed out to a 10-0 lead over South Carolina in the opening quarter of the women’s national basketball championship game. But it wasn’t enough. Dawn Staley kept the Lady Gamecocks composed and finished 38-0 with a 87-75 win over Caitlin Clark and Iowa (34-5).
The game was the pinnacle event in a year that saw women’s college basketball continue to make huge gains in popularity.
Iowa led South Carolina 27-20 at the end of the first quarter but was outscored in each quarter from that point forward. Clark exploded for 18 points in the first quarter, but the combination of size and outside shooting put South Carolina back in the game.
Kamilla Cardoso dominated the paint in this game, scoring 15 points and hauling in 17 rebounds. Another huge factor in the win was the bench scoring of South Carolina. They outscored Iowa 37-0 in bench points. Clark the national player of the year, finished with 30 points shooting 5-13 from the three point line. Caitlin Clark is projected to be the No. 1 pick in this year’s WNBA Draft.
An emotional Dawn Staley was at a loss for words in her post game interview on the floor.
“We serve an unbelievable God. Uncommon favor. So blessed,” she muttered as she gained her composure.
Staley then continued.
“I’m so incredibly happy for our players, it doesn’t always end like you want it to end. I hope we can erase whatever pain we had last year not being able to finish the job. You have to let young people be who they are but you have to navigate them through this tough world. This is what can happen, they made history. This was the most unlikeliest group to do it,” she said.
South Carolina had lost all five starters from last year’s team that was eliminated by Clark and Iowa in the NCAA Tournament.
The championship is the third for Dawn Staley while coaching at South Carolina. It was the tenth time a women’s Division I basketball team finished the season unbeaten.