The Gamecocks held UConn to 31 percent shooting in a 62-48 win that snapped a 54-game winning streak and sent South Carolina to its third consecutive national title game
South Carolina did what no team had managed to do all season. The Gamecocks defeated UConn 62-48 in the Women’s Final Four on Friday night in Phoenix, ending the Huskies’ undefeated season and snapping a 54-game winning streak that had been tied for the fourth longest in NCAA Division I history. The victory sent South Carolina to its third consecutive national championship game, where the Gamecocks will face fellow No. 1 seed UCLA on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on ABC.
How South Carolina dismantled UConn
The game plan was clear from the opening tip, and the Gamecocks executed it with precision. South Carolina deployed relentless, disruptive defensive pressure designed to force UConn off its preferred shooting patterns and into uncomfortable situations. The strategy worked. The Huskies shot just 31 percent from the field and finished under 50 points for only the third time in 171 NCAA tournament appearances in the program’s history. UConn’s two stars, Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd, combined for just 20 points on 7-for-31 shooting, their worst combined field goal percentage of the season.
South Carolina held a lead for most of the first half before UConn briefly took a 26-24 advantage into halftime. The Gamecocks responded with a 16-4 run to begin the third quarter and never relinquished control. UConn pulled within one late in the third and within two early in the fourth, but South Carolina’s defense tightened decisively in the final minutes, holding the Huskies to just four points over the last six-plus minutes of play.
The players who delivered for the Gamecocks
Freshman Agot Makeer was exceptional off the bench, finishing with 14 points in her third consecutive double-digit scoring game of the tournament. Ta’Niya Latson led all scorers with 16 points and added 11 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. Joyce Edwards contributed 11 points, and Tessa Johnson added 10. South Carolina also dominated the boards, finishing with a 47-32 rebounding advantage and a 16-9 edge in fast-break scoring.
What this means for South Carolina and Dawn Staley
With the win, South Carolina has now reached the national title game four times in five years under Dawn Staley. The Gamecocks previously won championships in 2017, 2022 and 2024, and a victory Sunday would give the program its fourth title and make Staley one of only four coaches in the history of women’s college basketball to reach that milestone, joining UConn’s Geno Auriemma, Tennessee’s Pat Summitt and Baylor/LSU’s Kim Mulkey. The motivation for this year’s run was rooted directly in last season’s painful result. South Carolina posted the 2025 championship game score, an 82-59 UConn win, on screens in its practice facility throughout the summer as a constant reminder of what the program was working toward.
The postgame confrontation
The final seconds of the game produced one of the more dramatic sideline moments in recent women’s basketball history. As the clock wound down, Auriemma walked down the sideline in the direction of Staley and the two coaches exchanged heated words at close range before being separated by assistants and officials. Auriemma walked off the floor without completing the traditional postgame handshake with Staley, though members of his staff attempted to manage the situation. Staley was also visibly animated and had to be directed away from the exchange by her own staff.
At a press conference shortly after, Auriemma expressed frustration about a foul disparity he perceived during the game, with UConn finishing with 17 fouls against South Carolina’s eight, and raised pointed questions about whether there was a double standard in how officials respond to sideline behavior from different coaches. He also described waiting at midcourt before the game for a traditional pregame handshake that he said never came. Staley declined to address the incident at her own press conference, redirecting attention to what her team accomplished on the court.
The exchange drew widespread attention and commentary, with observers raising questions about the nature of the rivalry between the two coaches and how both handled the moment in its immediate aftermath. For South Carolina, the confrontation did little to overshadow what was a significant and hard-earned victory. For UConn and Auriemma, the night ended both a perfect season and a 54-game run that had felt, for much of the year, as though it might carry the Huskies all the way back to a second consecutive national championship.