The South Carolina basketball team went the entire season being ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 Women’s Basketball Poll. They capped off their season fittingly going wire-to-wire in the finals against UConn, winning 64-49. 

The first possession of the game foreshadowed how the game would play out. South Carolina’s Victoria Saxton retrieved an offensive rebound—her first of five in the game— off a missed lay-in. The Gamecocks took advantage of the second opportunity, reset the offense and Brea Beal was able to find an open Destanni Henderson—who finished the game with a career-high 26—who knocked down the corner three.

In the first quarter South Carolina continued to dominate the offense boards grabbing seven, and the game. The team finished the quarter with a 22-8 lead. 

On the other side of the ball, Henderson shut down with the dynamic Paige Bueckers during the first quarter run and was able to get her defer, holding Bueckers scoreless in the first quarter. She only took one shot. 

“It is what it is,” a dispirited UConn head coach Geno sighed to ESPN during his sideline interview in between the quarters. “If they keep playing like this it will only get worse,” he added about the game. 

Well, UConn did look better in the second quarter. Bueckers was more aggressive, scoring 10 of her 14 total points in the second. However, South Carolina was able to stop the UConn run and never look back after the second quarter. 

UConn was held to their lowest total of the season. The ESPN broadcast noted that their guard Azzi Fudd, who averaged 12.5 points per game this season, was dealing with a stomach bug. Fudd ended the night with three points, attempting three shots. 

This is South Carolina’s second’s title under coach Dawn Staley, winning the first one in 2017. The former three-time gold medalist took over the program in 2008. Last season, the Gamecocks lost in a heartbreaker in the Final Four matchup against Stanford. They lost by one point after Aliayah Boston failed to make an uncontested shot from inside the restricted area before the buzzer.  Boston, in disbelief, fell to the floor after the shot and was consoled by her coaches and teammates.

This season ended with the AP Player of the Year, Boston emotional, but for a happier reason. She scored 11 points, along with 16 rebounds, including 5 offensive. 

“Honestly, I have been thinking about this since last season,” Boston said to ESPN’s Holly Rowe right after the win. “Because everyone had a picture of me crying… now we are national champions,” Boston than began to get choked up and announced “happy tears, Holly.”