According to ESPN South Carolina has claimed the NCAA championship over Clark after last year’s Final Four defeat.
With an 87-75 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes in the women’s NCAA tournament title game, South Carolina became the 10th team in Division I history to complete an undefeated season (38-0), joining UConn (six times), Baylor (2011-12), Tennessee (1997-98) and Texas (1985-86) as the only programs to achieve such a feat.
With its third national title in seven tournaments and second in three seasons, South Carolina tied Baylor and Stanford for the third-most championships all time and cemented its status as women’s college basketball’s latest dynasty.
Coach Dawn Staley — a former two-time player of the year who played in three Final Fours but missed out on a championship herself — became the fifth head coach to win at least three national titles.
Final Four Most Outstanding Player Kamilla Cardoso, expected to be an early pick in next week’s WNBA draft, finished with 15 points and a career-high 17 boards, becoming the fifth player with at least 15 points and 15 rebounds in a championship game in the past 25 seasons.
The Gamecocks outrebounded the Hawkeyes 51-29 on the afternoon.
The Gamecocks got the job done by knocking off Caitlin Clark, the presumptive No. 1 pick in next week’s WNBA draft, who ends her collegiate career with the most points in Division I men’s or women’s history with 3,951.
Watch Coach Dawn stanley’s reaction:
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Iowa, which beat South Carolina in the national semifinal last year before losing to the LSU Tigers in the title game, fell short once more of its program-first national championship.