COLUMBIA — South Carolina women’s basketball and coach Dawn Staley finally know their first round opponent to start the Women’s NCAA Tournament.
The No. 1 seed Gamecocks (31-3) will play No. 16 seed Southern (20-13) in Colonial Life Arena on March 21 (1 p.m. ET, ABC). Southern beat Samford 65-53 on March 19 in a First Four game.
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The winner of that game will play the winner of No. 8 Clemson and No. 9 Southern Cal on March 23.
The Gamecocks are the No. 4 overall seed but the top seed in the Sacramento 4 Regional.
Southern women’s basketball repeated as SWAC tournament champions
Southern University is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and is part of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Southern repeated as tournament champions this season, beating Alabama State 73-56 to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
The Jaguars finished third in the SWAC with a 20-13 regular-season record, including 12-6 in conference play.
They have a four-game win streak.
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DeMya Porter leads Southern in scoring
Sophomore 6-foot-1 forward DeMya Porter averages a team-high 9.7 points per game and 5.1 rebounds which is the second most for Southern.
Southern’s schedule prepared Jaguars for March
The Jaguars faced seven opponents that have been ranked in the top 25 this season.
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at LKesin@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X@Lulukesin and Bluesky@bylulukesin.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina women’s basketball first March Madness opponent set
