Photo courtesy of Chris Gillespie via Wikimedia Commons.
By Zellie Calavita ’26
Staff Writer
South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes 87-75 in the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship on Sunday, April 7, securing its second title in three years and a perfect 38-0 season record, The Ringer reported. Despite the Gamecocks’ near-perfect success in the last three seasons, their achievements seemed to have been lost in Caitlin Clark’s shadow.
Clark appeared on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update on April 13 ahead of the Women’s National Basketball Association draft. According to HuffPost, Clark, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, is coming off a historic season with Iowa after breaking the all-time NCAA Division I Basketball scoring record.
As the No. 2 overall seed heading into the NCAA tournament, Iowa, led by Clark’s brilliance on the court, defeated the reigning tournament champions Louisiana State University Tigers in the Elite Eight and then UConn Huskies in the Final Four en route to the championship game.
As Clark’s massive following watched Iowa soar to the finals, their opponent, South Carolina, seemed to have been hiding in plain sight, maybe in part due to how well-rounded the team was. Their overall team depth, as well as their strong bench, was what propelled their team to victory. The Athletic reported that their bench players outscored Iowa’s 37-0, a statistic that speaks to their depth and balanced roster.
According to the Gamecocks’ website, nine of their ten players were in the game for 14 minutes or more, including freshmen MiLaysia Fulwiley and Tessa Johnson, who was the highest scorer of the night for South Carolina with 19 points compared to Clark’s 30, showing that no player was solely responsible for the team’s win.
The architect and leader of the deep and well-balanced Gamecocks, Head Coach Dawn Staley, has found immense success during her time with South Carolina. She is one of only five women’s coaches at the Division I level to have led a team to three or more championships, The Ringer reported, gaining wins in 2017, 2022 and now 2024. Along with being an accomplished coach, she was once a skilled athlete herself.
According to her bio on the team’s website, while at the University of Virginia, Staley competed in the Olympics with Team USA, winning three gold medals. In 2013, while in the WNBA, she earned a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame. According to NBC News, her clear support for transgender athletes during a press conference ahead of the championship game further enhanced her status in the sports world.
“I’m on the opinion of if you’re a woman, you should be allowed to play,” Staley said when asked if “biological males” should be allowed to play women’s sports, NBC News reported. “If you consider yourself a woman and want to play sports, or vice versa, then you should be able to play. That’s my opinion.”
According to ESPN Press Room, South Carolina’s win against Iowa under Staley’s coaching was the most-viewed college basketball game ever aired on ESPN and the second most-viewed women’s sporting event outside of the Olympics, following only the 2015 FIFA World Cup Finals. It was also the most-viewed annual sporting event since 2019 that was not football-related.
According to Nielsen News Center, the matchup’s viewership on both ABC and ESPN averaged 18.9 million people and peaked at 24.1 million in the last five minutes. Women’s college sports have seen a sharp increase in viewership in recent years, with both softball and volleyball regularly setting new ratings records.
South Carolina women’s basketball shows no sign of slowing down. The Athletic has already placed the Gamecocks atop their power rankings for the 2024-2025 season.