CLEVELAND — The South Carolina Gamecocks are just a win away from another national title after using a dominant second half to blast past NC State 78-59 in the national semifinal game in Cleveland Friday night.
Led by a superlative performance by senior Kamilla Cardoso, who had 22 points and 11 rebounds, USC put away any chance of a Wolfpack threat with a run to start the third quarter that took the fight out of NC State.
The victory puts USC and Head Coach Dawn Staley in the NCAA title game for the third time in program history--and that's a good history so far. The Gamecocks are 2-0 all-time in March Madness title matchups.
The teams went back and forth to start the game, resulting in a tie score at the end of the first quarter. But an 11-2 run that began before that quarter ended started to give USC its first cushion.
Cardoso was dominant for South Carolina, scoring 16 points in the first half. But with 2:10 remaining in the second quarter, she fell awkwardly after tying up with an NC State player. She limped up the court on the next two plays, and had to come out of the game and go to the locker room for treatment. She would return in the second half.
NC State went on a run to close out the half that left South Carolina with just a one point lead, 32-31, at the break.
And then the third quarter happened.
USC came out firing, whether it was layups from Ashlyn Watkins and Cardoso, threes from Raven Johnson and Te-Hina Paopao, or coast to coast moves by Milaysia Fulwiley, to completely flummox NC State. When it was all over USC outscored their opponent 29-6 in the third, a spate of dominance that included an 11-0 stretch. That gave USC a 61-37 advantage going into the fourth, a lead which they'd largely maintain in the final frame.
The Gamecocks (37-0) are now hoping to become the first team to go undefeated in a season since UConn in 2016. Over the last two years the Gamecocks are 73-1, with their lone loss to Iowa in last year's national semifinal game.
Despite losing seven players to either the WNBA or graduation, USC once again finds itself as the team to beat. They topped preseason expectations, which had then ranked 6th in the polls, regarding the number one spot in the opening weeks and never relinquished that.
The Gamecocks swept the SEC Regular-Season and Tournament titles for the sixth time in the last 10 seasons, posting a 16-0 SEC regular-season record for the third time in program history. Staley earned SEC Coach of the Year honors from her colleagues for the seventh time this season, leaving her just one behind legendary Pat Summitt for the most selections in league history.