TAMPA, Fla. — (AP) — Dawn Staley has never lost a national championship game in three trips as South Carolina's coach.
Part of the key to winning those decisive games? Forgetting about what happened the last time she was there. And this time, that was only a year ago.
Staley's defending champion Gamecocks left no doubt they would return to the title game, getting 14 points from Te-Hina Paopao and overwhelming Texas 74-57 on Friday night in the Final Four of the women's NCAA Tournament.
“Nothing that happened prior to here is going to help us on Sunday. Nothing,” Staley said. “Saying that we’re undefeated in national championships games — I wish it helped. I wish it would spot us 10 points because we’re undefeated. I'd feel really good about that."
The Gamecocks are a win away from becoming the first team to secure consecutive titles since UConn won four straight from 2013-16. South Carolina will play UConn for the championship on Sunday after the Huskies routed UCLA 85-51 in Friday's second semifinal.
Freshman Joyce Edwards added 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for South Carolina (35-3), which used its experience and poise to weather an early deficit, and then took control with its depth at both ends of the floor.
Three South Carolina players finished in double figures — Bree Hall had 11 points — and the Gamecocks dominated Texas in the post with 40 points in the paint to the Longhorns’ 22.
Madison Booker had 11 points with three fouls for the Longhorns (35-4), who were trying to reach their first championship since 1986. They were in the Final Four for the first time since 2003 after a dominant season, which was their first in the Southeastern Conference after coming over from the Big 12.
Texas went 15-1 against the SEC in the regular season and shared the conference title with the Gamecocks.
South Carolina broke open the game in the third quarter with an 11-0 run started by Edwards' driving layup, and Texas never got closer than 10 the rest of the way. Booker, Texas' leading scorer, was held without a basket after making a jumper at the seven-minute mark of the third.
The Longhorns could not match South Carolina’s pace as the game went on. They only scored nine points in the third, including bad mid-range misses from Booker and Harmon. Harmon, a senior who returned this season from an ACL injury last year, finished with eight points. Jordan Lee led Texas with 16 points off the bench.
“Not our best night tonight,” Texas coach Vic Schaefer said, “but it wasn’t because they weren’t out there battling and trying. We lost to the better team tonight.”
South Carolina went undefeated during a dominant championship run last year that featured a physical roster no opponent could match up with. This year’s journey to the final has been slightly more challenging.
Without a star like A’ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston or 6-foot-7 center Kamilla Cardoso — who led the Gamecocks on their previous title runs — they've relied on a dynamic rotation to reach their third championship game in four years.
South Carolina leads the nation in bench points and got 35 points from its reserves on Friday, including nine points from Tessa Johnson and seven from Milaysia Fulwiley. Former South Carolina greats Wilson, Boston and Allisha Gray cheered them on from the stands.
Booker went to the bench with about three minutes left in the first quarter after picking up two fouls. That allowed South Carolina to climb out of a 12-4 hole before the SEC player of the year came back late in the second, made a free throw and checked back out after picking up her third foul. The Gamecocks outscored Texas by 13 with Booker on the bench and took a 38-35 halftime lead.
“Basketball is a game of runs,” Paopao said. “They went on their run. We went on our run. And we came out with the win, so I’m proud of our run.”
This was the teams’ fourth meeting this season — the 17th time two women’s teams have faced each other that many times in a single season, according to Stats Perform. As first-time conference opponents, they split the regular-season series, with each team winning on its home court, before the Gamecocks blew out Texas in the SEC Tournament championship.
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