PHOENIX — By early in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s national championship, Dawn Staley was officially out of answers.
When she didn’t look exasperated, she appeared stoic. When UCLA’s offense wasn’t rolling right past her South Carolina team, the Bruins’ defense was clamping down on the other end.
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‘Twas a nightmare day on the court for the Gamecocks … and perhaps a bit of deja vu, too.
UCLA never took its foot off the gas en route to a 79-51 win that delivered the Bruins their first national championship of the NCAA era and the first for coach Cori Close in her first title game appearance. The Bruins had led 61-32 going into the fourth quarter, clearly in control of the game. The Gamecocks, on the other hand, lost in blowout fashion in the national championship game for the second consecutive season. Last year, it was an 82-59 defeat against UConn in Tampa, Fla. This year, a near-30 point letdown — the third-largest margin of defeat — prompting all sorts of questions for Staley about what the heck happened Sunday.
“Obviously we got smacked,” she said. “We’ve got to figure out how we smack back and put ourselves in a position where we’re hosting the trophy at the end of the day.”
UCLA jumped out to a 21-10 lead in the first quarter, even with star center Lauren Betts several minutes on the bench with a minor throat issue. The Gamecocks had already tried to prep for Betts earlier in the week, but knew it would be hard to simulate via the scout team just how dynamic the 6-foot-7 senior is both offensively and defensively. If there were ever a time for South Carolina to pounce, it had to be with her sidelined.
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But the Gamecocks’ offense shot just 16.7 percent from the field in the first quarter … and it didn’t get much better the rest of the afternoon. South Carolina finished with a 29 percent field goal percentage, a far cry from UCLA’s 43 percent clip.
“See the score?” star guard Raven Johnson rhetorically asked. “Score speaks for itself.”
UCLA’s defense, which dominated Texas and held star guard Madison Booker to just 3-of-23 shooting in the semifinals, played a large role again in disrupting the Gamecocks. The Bruins essentially dared South Carolina’s post players to beat them from outside and sold out to stop the Gamecocks’ dynamic guards.
But South Carolina couldn’t get out of its own way, either. Staley lamented that too often her players took the first available shot throughout the first half. Instead of drawing out the defense and kicking back outside once the Bruins collapsed, Staley said her crew settled for “shots that aren’t normal for us.” It showed, with center Madina Okot attempting two 3-pointers in the first quarter alone.
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On the occasions the Gamecocks did get the right looks, they simply couldn’t knock them down — whether they were on the perimeter or even right under the basket.
That inconsistency put pressure on South Carolina to generate offensive rebounds and try again when UCLA outpaced the Gamecocks in second-chance points, 25-12.
“I felt like we were ready. We knew we wanted it, but I guess we didn’t show it out there as much as we thought we wanted it,” said South Carolina guard Tessa Johnson, who scored a game-high 14 points.
“We knew that they could rebound and we still didn’t box out or go for the rebounds and the extra plays and stuff like that.”
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Defensively, the Gamecocks could never make anything difficult on the Bruins, save for the few times South Carolina pulled out its press defense. Betts did her usual thing with 14 points and 11 boards. Gianna Kneepkens was 3-of-7 from deep and finished with 15 points.
The Bruins had 40 points in the paint and moved the ball well, with 23 assists to South Carolina’s nine. UCLA guard Gabriela Jaquez was also everywhere — everywhere — for the Bruins, finishing with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. She dove for loose balls, was relentless in crashing the boards and never stopped making herself useful.
“Hard matchup. Hard matchup,” Staley said of Jaquez. “You come in a game, you know exactly what she’s going to do and she does it.
“She (has) a relentless, just championship-type behavior. Intangibles that (are) needed in order for you to win.”
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Perhaps that was the other part that made Sunday so frustrating for the Gamecocks.
From the onset, it was clear the Bruins showed up with the requisite energy to win a game of this magnitude. The Gamecocks by comparison, looked flat.
“Every 50/50 ball went their way,” South Carolina guard Ta’Niya Latson said. “Every rebound, they got second-, third- and fourth-chance points. We didn’t do the little things, we didn’t do the intangibles. That’s something that Coach talks about a lot.
“When you’re on this stage, you need to have that, and they did.”
Staley sang UCLA coach Cori Close’s praises and said that if the Gamecocks had to lose, she could handle it, knowing that it was to “a really good human being and a good team that represents women’s basketball well.” The Gamecocks coach sounded gracious in defeat and genuine in her admiration for Close.
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But Staley also knows a loss like this one will drive her South Carolina team this offseason in its quest to return to this same stage next year. In some ways, the Gamecocks are victims of their own success. The standard of competing for championships is set and expectations have only elevated under Staley.
Though Raven Johnson and Latson are now headed to the WNBA, Tessa Johnson will return, as will standout freshman Agot Makeer and sophomore star Joyce Edwards. South Carolina will also get forward Chloe Kitts back from injury, and fellow forward Ashlyn Watkins is expected to return after a year away from the program. Staley also intends to use the transfer portal to add a few guards around Maddy McDaniel.
Johnson expects another Final Four trip this time next year. That’s Staley’s plan, too.
“Everyone goes crazy when we lose one basketball game,” she said. “It’s hard out here. It really is hard in our sport.
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“Losing in the national championship game the way we lost, I guess that will be the thing that really drives us. … Although things can go well your way, there’s always things that you can work on, there’s always this situation that’s lurking, … always in the back of my mind anytime we lose. When we have an opportunity to win a national championship, you just try to get better, find the lessons within this game and try to get better.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
UCLA Bruins, South Carolina Gamecocks, Women’s College Basketball
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