CLEVELAND — Caitlin Clark shot to fame last year for ruining South Carolina’s undefeated season.
This year, the country’s best players couldn’t break from perfection.
A season that began with coach Dawn Staley bringing in five new starters and an 87-75 win over Iowa State in the title game Sunday at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse helped South Carolina become the best in the sport. It ended with him joining the ranks of immortality as the 10th undefeated national champion.
The No. 1 Gamecocks (38-0), whose only blemish over the past two seasons was a game against Caitlin Clark in last year’s Final Four, have won two of the past three titles, and Staley It was his third ring since 2017.
“It was emotional for me considering how last year ended,” Staley said. “We weren’t going to let what we felt happened to us last year happen again this year. … You carry the weight of all the players, coaches and staff who have put so much effort into our team and undefeated.” It’s a heavy burden to get the job done.”
South Carolina had a flashback in the first quarter, allowing Clark, who scored 41 points in last year’s semifinals, to score 18 points in the first 10 minutes and trailing by 11 points.
In front of a pro-Iowa crowd, the nation’s best defense shut down Division I’s all-time leading scorer, holding her to 12 points in the final three quarters.
Sophomore Raven Johnson was humiliated in last year’s matchup by waving disdainfully at Clark for an open shot, but he recovered with some incredible defense, stripped Clark and scored just before halftime. and gave South Carolina a 49-46 lead.
“I was ready for that moment,” Johnson said. “I studied her movements and she was ready. I was confident this year. I told myself that nothing like last year would happen again.
“It was a revenge tour. And what better way than to play against them in the championship and win.”
South Carolina had a 37-0 edge in bench points, led by freshman Tessa Johnson (19 points), and Camila Cardoso (15 points, 17 rebounds) dominated inside.
A 14-point lead in the fourth quarter sparked chants of “USC,” but they died down when the Hawkeyes cut the deficit to five points with 4:12 remaining.
It was the last time Iowa scored.
“There’s a lot of guys on this team who would have felt like the five-point lead against Iowa was meaningless when the lead was getting smaller and you had a player like Caitlin,” Staley said. “When the timeout was called, you could hear all the players talking about how they needed to stop.”
Revenge tour has ended.
