Redemption and revenge: For South Carolina WBB, rematch with Iowa is ‘what we want’

The last time South Carolina women’s basketball experienced defeat was 373 days ago in Dallas at the American Airlines Center.

South Carolina fell 77-73 to Iowa in the 2023 NCAA Final Four. It marked the end of the careers of the beloved “Freshies.” Brea Beal, Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke, Laeticia Amihere and Olivia Thompson graduated from USC two games shy of leading the 10th team in Division I history to go undefeated and win a national championship.

Afterward, coach Dawn Staley looked at then-sophomore Bree Hall and said, “Get us back here, Breezy.”

It’s a moment Hall will never forget. It still lives with her, just over a year later, as she and USC prepare for a rematch of last year’s national semifinal game against Iowa in Sunday’s NCAA Tournament championship. She couldn’t have scripted a more perfect season finale.

“It falls right into place of what we want,” Hall said Saturday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. “So I think it’d be a really good game and a good opportunity for us to get our get-back.”

Revenge is the name of their game this weekend, an element some Gamecocks openly admit and others skirt.

When asked whether she wanted it to be South Carolina-Iowa in the 2024 national championship game, Sania Feagin replied: “We’re just looking for anybody that’s ready to play.

“But,” she added, breaking out into a sheepish grin, “kind of.”

Raven Johnson has watched last year’s Final Four game “more than 100 times” – the one where she went viral for passing up an open 3-pointer after Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark waved her off. Feagin and Staley haven’t watched it at all. No use in dwelling on the past: These are two completely different teams than the pair that faced off in Dallas a season ago, they said.

But last year’s heartbreak is impossible to forget, impossible to brush to the side.

The key will be whether South Carolina can use the emotions constructively.

All season. Staley has lamented how this USC team practices and prepares poorly. These Gamecocks are so young. So full of life. So talkative.

But the undefeated Gamecocks (37-0) seem to have found the perfect balance between seriousness and lightheartedness. Players and coaches danced and sang along to Beyoncé, Saweetie and Nicki Minaj during Saturday’s open practice, waving to adoring fans as their names were called over the arena PA system. Several took turns at chucking up half-court shots with about 10 minutes left in the session, cheering when freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley drained one of her attempts.

Even Staley took the ESPN microphone from Holly Rowe ahead of their interview and sang about “East Coast swag” along with a recording of Boyz II Men. Playing and coaching basketball? Yes. Karaoke? Mmm, no.

Earlier in the day, Staley said the Gamecocks have been a different kind of locked in during the NCAA Tournament.

South Carolina won its first two tournament games by a combined 99 points. It outscored opponents in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games by 16 total points. Friday, USC outscored N.C. State 29-6 in the third quarter and won by 19 to advance to Sunday’s title game.

According to Staley, that tone carried over to Saturday’s early film review session.

“It wasn’t day care this morning,” she quipped Saturday during her prechampionship game news conference.

Forty more minutes to history. To redemption. To sweet satisfaction.