A bitter end: South Carolina WBB dominated by UCLA in national title game
Runners-up, again.
The South Carolina women’s basketball team — seeking the program’s fourth national championship — wrapped up the 2025-26 season instead with a loss in the March Madness title game for the second-straight year.
Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks fell to UCLA 79-51 in the NCAA Tournament title game Sunday at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix.
South Carolina, the tournament’s fourth overall seed, ends the season with a 36-4 record. Meanwhile, UCLA will fly back to Los Angeles with its first NCAA national championship trophy in program history.
“We just didn’t have it today. We tried, but we just didn’t have it today,” Staley said. “They were the better team. Sometimes you’re part of women’s basketball history and it’s not favorable to your team. If you’re going to lose to a team like UCLA, you want to lose to a team that outworks you, out-executes you, makes it very difficult for you to perform at a high level.”
UCLA, the second overall seed behind UConn, flat out dominated South Carolina on Sunday. The Bruins led the game from wire to wire, building a 35-point lead in the second half and never letting up on the Gamecocks.
“This is not the ending we wanted,” USC junior Tessa Johnson said. “But we got here. No one thought we would. We did it. I’m very proud of the girls.”
The Gamecocks were coming off 62-48 win over UConn in the Final Four. Teams that beat UConn in the NCAA semifinals are 3-9 in the national championship game.
Sunday’s loss was one of the more uncharacteristic defeats in recent history for Staley’s teams, which are now 3-2 in the program’s five title game appearances. The Gamecocks lost last year’s national championship game by 23 points to UConn.
“We got smacked today,” Staley said. “We’ve got to figure out how we smack back and put ourselves where we’re hoisting the trophy at the end of the day.”
South Carolina’s shooting woes
The Gamecocks ran into rare offensive problems in the national title game.
South Carolina didn’t have any problems getting the shots off. The problem was simply getting them to fall.
In the first half, South Carolina shot 25.7% from the floor. For context, South Carolina went into the game shooting 50.5% as a team.
“The first quarter, first half, we had a lot of people taking shots that weren’t normal for us,” Staley said. “We didn’t do a good job getting the people that were probably supposed to get some better looks the ball. I think UCLA had a lot to do with it. I didn’t think we had to play perfect basketball, but we had to play better basketball.”
The final mark of 29% shooting was the third-lowest field goal percentage in a women’s national title game since the NCAA adopted the tournament format in 1982.
USC made three field goals in the first quarter and six in the second, bringing the Gamecocks to a 9-for-35 total before halftime. South Carolina also struggled near the basket, going 4-for-10 on layups in the first half.
Things didn’t get much better for South Carolina in the second half. USC was outscored 25-9 in the third quarter by UCLA. The Gamecocks were 3 for 14 from the floor in the third, and their nine points were the fewest by any team ever in the third quarter of an NCAA title game.
UCLA, on the other hand, had no trouble scoring the ball in the game. All five of the Bruins’ starters finished with double-digits in the scoring column.
UCLA dominates in the paint
It’s not every day that South Carolina is outmatched in the post, but that’s exactly what happened on Sunday.
The Gamecocks struggled to gain any advantage in the paint and UCLA won the rebounding battle 49-37.
“You can have a good defensive possession, but give up an offensive rebound, that’s just really deflating,” Staley said.
South Carolina seemingly had no answer for UCLA star Lauren Betts. The 6-foot-7 senior imposed her will on the post with ease throughout the night. USC threw various different defenders at Betts, but no one could effectively slow her down. She finished with a double-double (14 points and 11 rebounds).
UCLA outscored South Carolina 40-28 in paint points and second-chance points (25-12).
Tournament Tessa’s effort not enough
Tessa Johnson was the only Gamecock to find some semblance of rhythm on offense vs. UCLA.
The junior, whose past March Madness performances have earned her the “Tournament Tessa” nickname, led the team in scoring Sunday with 14 points.
The Gamecocks were prepared, she said, even if it didn’t look that way at times Sunday.
“We don’t like this feeling,” Tessa Johnson said. “The standard here is to get here. I do expect our team to get here next year. The girls in the locker room, the younger girls, they don’t like that feeling either.”
Meanwhile, South Carolina’s top three leading scorers — Joyce Edwards, Ta’Niya Latson and Madina Okot — all finished with less than 10 points in the scoring column. Freshman Agot Makeer (11) was the only other Gamecock in double-digits.
Gamecocks’ national championship game history
- 2017: South Carolina 67, Mississippi State 55 (Dallas)
- 2022: South Carolina 64, UConn 49 (Minneapolis)
- 2024: South Carolina 87, Iowa 75 (Cleveland)
- 2025: UConn 82, South Carolina 59 (Tampa)
- 2026: UCLA 79, South Carolina 51 (Phoenix)
This story was originally published April 5, 2026 at 5:44 PM.
