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The Univ. of South Carolina "completed its perfect season" with an 87-75 victory over Iowa last night at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, becoming the 10th Division I team to go through a season without a loss. South Carolina has won three titles in the last eight years, including two of the past three, to "lay claim to being the latest dynasty in women’s basketball."
Dawn Staley became the fifth coach in history to win at least three national championships. The Gamecocks also became the first team since UConn in 2016 to go undefeated (
AP, 4/7).
In a season when, "perhaps more than any other year in the sport’s history, individual accomplishments were spread throughout the game," a squad from Columbia that "truly played as a team won it all" (Charleston POST & COURIER, 4/7).
A celebration for the team will be held today inside the school's Colonial Life Arena, with doors opening at 12:30pm ET and an event starting "no earlier" than 2pm. Staley and members of the team "are expected to speak" during the celebration, and a replay of the game will show on the videoboard before the team’s arrival. A parade is "expected from the city of Columbia sometime in the coming weeks," but there was "no official word as of Sunday night as to when that could take place" (Columbia STATE, 4/7).
The South Carolina-Iowa matchup was the most-bet women’s sporting event in BetMGM history. The Westgate SuperBook, Station Casinos and South Point also reported a record betting handle on the game. The previous two record handles were set in Iowa’s wins over UConn on Friday in the Elite Eight and over LSU in last week’s Sweet 16 (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 4/7).
Yesterday was "a good day for women’s basketball and it was a good day for us sports diehards searching for more material to devour." Now comes the "responsibility of keeping our commitment to the sport," because there are "more stars, more personalities, more beefs, and more of this beautiful women’s game to come" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/7).
