Ready for a repeat! South Carolina WBB tops Texas to reach national title game
South Carolina women’s basketball will get to enjoy the Sunshine State for a few more days.
The Gamecocks defeated fellow 1-seed Texas 74-57 in the Final Four on Friday at Amalie Arena to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament national championship game.
The win moves South Carolina’s record to 3-1 over Texas this season and gives Dawn Staley an 8-0 record over coach Vic Schaefer all time in the postseason.
Championship game-bound
With the win Friday, South Carolina advances to its third national title game in the last five years.
The Gamecocks (35-3) will face No. 2 seed UConn on Sunday at 3 p.m. on ABC.
This will be USC’s fourth national title appearance in program history, all of which have come under Staley. The Gamecocks are 3-0 in those championship game.
“We made it,” South Carolina’s Sania Feagin said. “We’ve got one more game. So we’ve gotta give it all up, just gotta let each other know that we have each others back and go out there and play hard.”
Texas ends its season with a 35-4 record.
Return to form for Joyce Edwards
It’s no secret that Joyce Edwards has struggled in the last few March Madness games. She’d admit as much.
The freshman led South Carolina in scoring all season but totaled just 15 points across the second round, Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games.
On Friday night, she looked like the budding star Gamecock fans had grown accustomed to watching.
Edwards recorded a double-double against Texas. She scored 13 points and led the Gamecocks with 11 rebounds and six assists.
“It’s comforting,” Edwards said of her performance. “I’m definitely having a struggle in the tournament. But it’s comforting just knowing that I was going to bounce back and influence a win. I’m happy it was today. And I did just what the game gave me.”
The boost Edwards gave off the bench was crucial to South Carolina creating separation in the game.
Edwards is the first player in at least 25 years to have 10-plus points, 10-plus rebounds and five-plus assists off the bench in a Final Four game, per ESPN.
Strong third quarter makes the difference
South Carolina and Texas have battled like a pair of heavyweight fighters in all four of their matchups this season.
The Longhorns punched first Friday.
Texas got up 12-4 early and led for a majority of the first half, but South Carolina never wavered. The Gamecocks trailed 19-18 at the end of the first quarter but fought back and took a 38-35 lead into halftime.
Then came the third quarter.
South Carolina locked in on both sides of the ball in the third period and outscored Texas 20-9.
“We’ve been in those situations before,” Edwards said. “We knew how to bounce back. We’re a resilient team. Especially in the tournament, we had a lot of close games. It wasn’t a pressure to do anything out of the ordinary. We just knew we just had to keep going.”
The Longhorns shot 28.6% in the third quarter, while the Gamecocks shot 56.3% from the field. A dominant stint in the post helped, as South Carolina out-rebounded Texas 13-5 in that period.
Women’s national championship game
- Who: South Carolina vs. UConn
- When: 3 p.m. Sunday
- TV: ABC
- Stream: ESPN app
This story was originally published April 4, 2025 at 9:06 PM.
