The South Carolina women’s basketball team defeated No. 2 seed Duke 54-50 on March 30 to advance to the NCAA Tournament Final Four for the fifth consecutive season.
The Gamecocks will play the No. 1 seed Texas Longhorns for a spot in the National Championship and the chance to compete for a second consecutive title in the fourth matchup this season between the two teams.
South Carolina won the most recent matchup over the Longhorns 64-45 on March 9 in the SEC Championship. The two teams also played twice in the regular season and split the series with each getting a win on its home court.
Texas defeated TCU 58-47 on March 31 to advance to its first NCAA Tournament Final Four since 2003. Texas head coach Vic Schaefer made history by becoming just the fifth coach to lead two programs, Texas and Mississippi State, to the women’s Final Four.
Eight years prior to Monday’s game, Schaefer led the then-No.2 seed Mississippi State Bulldogs to a 66-64 win over the then-No. 1 UConn, ending the Huskies 111-game winning streak. The Bulldogs lost in the NCAA Tournament Championship 67-55 to the South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Longhorns forced 21 turnovers in its recent win over the TCU Horned Frogs and held its opponent to 12-45 (26.7%) shooting from the field, only one game after TCU shot 50% from the field to defeat No.3 seed Notre Dame.
Sophomore forward Madison Booker and senior guard Rori Harmon led the way for the Longhorns in their win on March 31, scoring 18 points and 13 points respectively. Booker is the reigning SEC Player of the Year and averages 16.5 points per game, while Harmon earned SEC All-Defense Team and averages 9.3 points and 5.9 assists per game.
Harmon made her presence known on the defensive end with two steals against the Horned Frogs and surpassed her season average for points in the first quarter of the game.
Texas is known for its defensive strategy of aggressive hedges and full court pressing its opponents to force turnovers. This strategy has allowed Texas to force the fifth most turnovers in the NCAA with 791 turnovers and held its opponents to 55.7 points a game.
While Texas’ defensive strategy has held most of its opponents to lower scores, the Gamecocks have averaged 64 points a game against the Longhorns. 62 points was the lowest point total Texas held South Carolina to in the Longhorn’s lone win over the Gamecocks on Feb. 9
Along with Texas’ defense, Booker has struggled to score in two of the three games against South Carolina this season. In the two losses against the Gamecocks, Booker was held to 10 points on March 9 and 7 points on Jan. 12.
Head coach Dawn Staley said the team’s experience is what helped in its last win over the Vic Schaefer-led Longhorns.
“To win a national championship, you got to have been to a Final Four and experience all the things that come with it,” Staley said. “And then if you ever have a chance to go back, you just right some of the ship that needs to be righted.”
Staley trusts senior guard Bree Hall to guard Booker in the upcoming matchup. Hall helped hold Booker to 10 points on 4-13 (30%) from the field in the SEC Championship.
Staley praised the effort shown by both Hall and junior guard Raven Johnson after the last game against Texas.
"We put those two in positions of basically quarterbacking our defense," Staley said.
After defeating Duke on Sunday, Staley talked through how the team would perform while anticipating its opponent after the win against No. 2 seed Duke.
"If it's Texas, we gonna muck it up just like we do in the Southeastern Conference ... I just hope that we can get our offense going a little bit." Staley said.
Staley also emphasized the team's communication during the team's current tournament run.
"I'm not surprised but I'm proud because they have great self-talk," Staley said. "They have great talk amongst each other ... they want each other to do well. They want to win."
With a victory over the Longhorns, the Gamecocks would face the winner of No. 1 seed UCLA and No. 2 seed UConn. Both teams defeated South Carolina in the regular season with UCLA handing the Gamecocks their first loss this season, snapping a 43-game winning streak, in a 77-62 win for the Bruins.
The Bruins are led by the duo of junior forward Lauren Betts and junior guard KiKi Rice. Betts leads the team in scoring at 20 points and 9.6 rebounds per game while Rice averages 12.9 points and 5.1 assists per game.
UCLA beat No. 3 seed LSU 72-65 to advance to play its next game against the Huskies. Betts lead the team in scoring with 17 points and played great defense as well adding six blocks to her performance against the Tigers. The Bruins shot 41.7% from the field to win against LSU this past weekend.
UConn dominated against South Carolina in a 29-point-win over the Gamecocks. Senior guard Azzi Fudd scored 28 points to propel the Huskies over the Gamecocks on Feb. 16. The loss snapped a 71-game home winning streak that had been held since Dec. 2020.
Although Fudd had the hot hand against the Gamecocks in its last meeting, senior guard Paige Bueckers leads the Huskies in scoring with 20.1 points per game and has had 30 or more in three of her last games. Bueckers' 31 point performance helped led the Huskies in a 78-64 win over the No. 1 seed USC Trojans to advance to the next round.
If both Uconn and South Carolina advance, Staley emphasized the offense would need to be better next time against the Huskies.
"At the end of the game, we're just trying to figure out if we see this team again, what can we do in certain situations," Staley said. "Certainly not from a defensive standpoint more so from an offensive standpoint."