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Dawn Staley was incredibly emotional following South Carolina’s national championship win on Sunday.
Once the clocks hit zero, the Gamecocks head coach almost immediately broke down into tears. Something Staley said had to do with the journey of making it this far after last year’s heartbreak in the Final Four during her postgame press conference.
“It was emotional for me because of how it ended last year. I’ll leave that there,” she said. “And I was emotional at the beginning of the game because I didn’t want what happened last year to happen this year. So it was handling things in real time. Not afterwards.”
Staley’s program was on the precipice of a potential 38-0 finish last season but fell to Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes in the national semifinal. This time, however, South Carolina was able to finish the job and put a bow on its undefeated season with a title.
Dawn Staley’s journey in Columbia has been one that took time. And all that love, devotion and hard work has paid off.
She’s one of just five coaches in women’s basketball history to win three or more NCAA Tournament championships and her program’s reign doesn’t look like it’ll be coming to an end anytime soon.
Congrats to Dawn and all of the ladies who contributed to such a great 2023-24 season.