Once again, the South Carolina women's basketball team was unable to stop the powerhouse of UConn. But this time, the loss would end the Gamecocks' season as the Huskies got the 94-65 win on Monday night. The defending national champions fell in the Elite Eight, allowing UConn to advance to the Final Four and try to take back the National Championship title.
The Gamecocks played a sloppy contest on Saturday in the Sweet 16 to get past Buffalo to set up this game against No. 1 UConn. South Carolina knew it had to clean up its play and limit turnovers, but the team continued to face those same struggles in Monday's contest.
The Huskies got off to a quick start, going on a 7-1 run before the Gamecocks could make their first shot from the field nearly two minutes in. South Carolina committed six turnovers during the first quarter as they trailed UConn 30-12.
Head coach Dawn Staley said getting down like that early on is hard to fight back from, especially with the way the Huskies were shooting the ball.
"We, for the most part, stuck to our game plan," Staley said. "UConn makes you pay, you gotta pick your poison. If you dig in too much to help in the paint, they're going to kill you on the outside. If you overplay on the outside, they're going to backdoor you for wide open layups. So, it was that kind of game in which we could not control it especially early on."
That deficit just continued to grow for the Gamecocks as they couldn't get their defense to click to stop the Huskies. South Carolina shot 50 percent from the field, but too many turnovers continued to be a big factor to overcome. UConn led 54-33 at the half, largely due to shooting 90 percent from behind the arc.
The Gamecocks only made one three-point attempt during the first half, a missed attempt from Bianca Jackson late in the second quarter. The Huskies made nine three-point shots during the first half, giving them 27 points off of those, and with the 21-point lead at the half, that was the difference maker.
"It was just the way the ballgame was going," senior A'ja Wilson said of UConn's shooting. "We could have tried anything but they were shooting pretty well, great, from the three-point line. And that was one of our keys was just to defend the three-point line and we had a little trouble doing that, so I mean at that point you just have to give it everything that you have and leave it all on the court."
The second half started out with slow shooting from both teams, but whenever the Gamecocks started to find some offensive rhythm, they just could not find a way to succeed on defense. South Carolina never led during the game and only forced seven turnovers, showing how badly the Gamecocks struggled defensively.
With this loss, Wilson's Gamecock career has officially come to a close. She finished the night with 27 points and eight rebounds, and got a standing ovation from the crowd in Albany when she came out for the final time with 3:15 left in the game. She had a towel over her face on the bench after hugging her teammates on her way out, as she knew her career in garnet and black was over.
"I had a great four years, I wouldn't change anything," Wilson said. "Coming to South Carolina was the best decision that I've made at a young age ... Of course, it's all fun and I hate to see it come to an end but at the same time I wouldn't trade in anything from my time I had at South Carolina."
South Carolina finishes its season 29-7 (12-4 SEC). Despite not getting the job done in the NCAA Tournament, Staley said after the game that she is proud of the season her team put together, especially with all of the injuries they faced.
"I'm super proud, because no one had us probably here," Staley said. "And the way that our team performed all year long, under adversity, couldn't be ... more proud of our players and the way they've handled themselves and the way they did not succumb to 'woe it's me, why is it happening to me'. They just played it out and we found ourselves in a place in which only us believed that we could be here."