South Carolina wins 1st national title, beats Miss State 67-55

Wilson scored 23 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked four shots as she guided the Gamecocks to a 67-55 win and the program’s first national title.

SC head coach Dawn Staley celebrates with the championship trophy after Sunday’s win.

In a battle of the SEC, the Mississippi State Bulldogs took on the South Carolina Gamecocks. It was one of two opportunities that I saw women play when I was younger: national championship games and Olympics.

With a 54-50 lead and 6:54 remaining, SC scored the next four points that forced a Mississippi State timeout.

Wilson, who grew up in SC, blocked a shot on one end of the court and then hit a short jumper in the lane that started a 12-2 run to put the game away.

For those who follow college basketball, the idea that Gonzaga is playing North Carolina for the national title doesn’t seem all that odd. First, Victoria Vivians had a backwards three point lay, making the first free throw and then hitting a jumper after missing the second.

Asked after the game if he would be there for the final, Prescott said he was going to try. The Hopkins, S.C., native powered her way into the paint before converting another layup, and a great put-back from Wilson secured the championship and handed Carolina a 66-52 lead with 1:39 left.

“We don’t have that tradition that dates back 40, 50, 60 years, and so we defer to that”, Few said. “She’s still one of the big heroes in NCAA women’s tournament history”.

After a missed buzzer-beater, the halftime score remained 36-26, South Carolina. New buildings dot the campus, with more under construction, including the Volkar Center for Athletic Achievement next door to The Kennel, where the Zags play.

“I never gave up on winning a national championship, no matter how hard it was, no matter what it looked like”, said Staley, who is the first Final Four MOP to win a national title as a coach.

SC was threatening to run away with the title before Mississippi State clawed back into the contest in the third quarter. Auriemma and his 2016 USA women’s national team were honored between the first and second quarters of South Carolina-Mississippi State for winning the Olympic gold medal this summer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After she spoke with reporters in the locker room, she sat on a folding chair, crying with a Final Four towel draped over her head.

Will it be a hard act to follow?

The win cements the reality in the public mind that had been clear to many, including Auriemma, for some time: The broadening talent base in women’s college basketball has also extended parity to the very top of the game.

Not only did the Zags hold off a tough, resolute SC team on Saturday to advance to face North Carolina on Monday, but gargantuan center Przemek Karnowski emerged undamaged after getting poked in the right eye Saturday.

“We’ve got to block them out”, Few said.

But that’s as close as the Bulldogs could get.

Player of the game II: Allisha Gray. It was her second straight spectacular performance. That came after she scored 41 points in an overtime win over Baylor in the Elite Eight. “I think both these teams are probably facing for the first time depth that mirrors each other inside, but also a willingness to just keep going and going in there whether it’s off the pass or even off of offensive rebounds to generate a lot of offense inside out”. You knew from the start that the players were going to leave it all on the court. “I’m not mad; Jazz did a good job”.

“Heart over height” is a nice motto. You have the biggest moment of your playing career one night, and less than 48 hours later you feel crushed. A’ja Wilson was sensational once again, finishing with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks.

“Jazz was playing good today”, Schaefer said of Holmes, who finished with 6 points in 17 minutes. She also struggled to set the pace on offense against SC guard guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore, whose aggressive defense kept William on her heels.

She recalled teammates coming over, saying, “Mo, where you at?”

SC has few seniors on its roster and should be a contender once again next season, while Mississippi State also has plenty of returning talent.

Third time a charm? Her accomplishments there include two Final Fours and 25-win seasons the last six years.

She lost in the Final Four three times as a player, including 1991 when she was named the Most Outstanding Player in defeat. Wilson is a 6-foot-5-inch first team All American. Coates has been out with an ankle injury for the entire tournament and Wilson’s had to carry the load inside.

Vivians led Mississippi State with 12 points, but shot just 4-16 and had five turnovers. She went out there and played great. Only UConn has won both titles in the same season, doing so in 2004 and again in 2014. But anti-UConn gloaters beware. “She played with energy that her team needed”.