By: d-mars
NCAA
CLEVELAND, Ohio — This year’s NCAA championship gave the saying, “play like a girl” an entirely new meaning!
The 2024 NCAA DI women’s basketball tournament is complete, and South Carolina took down Iowa 87-75 to complete an undefeated season.
In 2023, Iowa upset an undefeated South Carolina team in the Final Four.
According to NCAA, South Carolina is securely in the history books with one of the most stunning reloading jobs ever seen. The Gamecocks go 36-1, lost all five starters, then returned with a flawless 38-0 run and national championship, the final bow on the package an 87-75 win over Iowa Sunday. One must stand back to look at all the numbers and fully appreciate the dominance of Dawn Staley’s program.
South Carolina has donned a 109-3 record the past three seasons with the defeats by one, two and four points. The team has achieved three national championships in the past seven tournaments.
“Obviously,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “Dawn Staley is the leader of women’s basketball right now.”
“I hope that everybody gets exactly what they want out of it,” Staley had said the day before the big win. “And I just hope the viewers, the people in attendance will take tomorrow’s moment and carry it to the rest of the history of our sport. Hopefully we can keep the eyeballs and demand where it needs to be.”
Gamecocks’ Kamilla Cardoso also hauled a career-high 17 rebounds, leading an overwhelming South Carolina rebounding effort that started to wear on the Hawkeyes. The Gamecocks enjoyed a 24-11 rebounding advantage in the second half, including six offensive boards, and a plus-6 advantage in second chance points helped South Carolina maintain its lead.
“It was a revenge tour,” South Carolina guard Raven Johnson said. “And there’s no better way than to play them in the championship and beat them.”
Johnson’s defense on Iowa’s Caitlin Clark was no small factor. Clark went for 30 but it took 10-for-28 shooting to do it.
“We knew she was going to get her points. We wanted her to get her points in an inefficient way,” Staley said. “I look at the stat sheet, it’s beautiful. If she’s shooting 50%, we lose the basketball game.”
Meanwhile, Clark is headed for the WNBA draft, leaving behind broken attendance marks and shattered TV ratings records. Her final record haul: 3,951 career points after 30 on Sunday.
“I think the biggest thing is it’s really hard to win these things. I think I probably know that better than most people by now.” Clark said Sunday. “To be so close twice, it definitely hurts.
Here was the complete schedule, followed by the tournament bracket and scores for games:
- Selection Sunday: 8 p.m. ET Sunday, March 17 on ESPN
- First Four: March 20-21
- First round: March 22-23
- Second round: March 24-25
- Sweet 16: March 29-30
- Elite Eight: March 31-April 1
- Final Four: Friday, April 5 at 7 p.m. with the second semifinal starting 30 minutes after the first game ends. Both will be broadcast on ESPN and hosted at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
- NCAA championship game: Sunday, April 7 at 3 p.m. ET on ABC, hosted at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
Next year, the Final Four championship will be held in Tampa, Florida on April 4 and 6. The University of South Florida and Tampa Bay Sports Commission will be hosting.
