South Carolina women power past Duke to advance to fifth straight Final Four

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – It’s never about if, but how for Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks.

Yet again in Birmingham, South Carolina’s “how” was the same in March: clutch plays from clutch players.

The No. 1-seeded Gamecocks held on to take down Duke in a 54-50 victory on Sunday, punching its ticket to a record-fifth straight Final Four appearance.

The Gamecocks will face Texas or TCU in the Final Four on Friday evening.

“The message was basically we gotta operate,” Staley said of the fourth quarter. “One, it was the offensive rebounds were killing us, OK? Two, we have to operate in broken plays. Because they blew up some of our sets and when they blow them up, we have to stay calm and we have to get a shot at the basket to give ourselves an opportunity to make a basket or get an offensive rebound.

“It was just about runs. It was their run and we just talked about going on one of our runs.”

Down 42-38 going into the fourth quarter, South Carolina broke out the fourth quarter on runs of 8-0 and 12-4, highlighted by a pair of jumpers from Sania Feagin.

Regional MVP Chloe Kitts scored the final six points for South Carolina with four free throws – two with five seconds left to play – and a layup with 1 minute, 47 seconds left to play.

“When we had to make plays off of broken sets, we did it in the fourth quarter,” Staley said. “I think that was the difference between them coming back and building the lead and us bearing down and making sure we win those broken play battles.”

Kitts finished with a team-high 14 points, with eight coming in the final 10 minutes .

She said that the coaching staff drew up the play for her to get the ball in the fourth quarter.

“It feels amazing, because I feel like I worked so hard,” Kitts said. “My process is different and everyone’s process is different and I’m just so thankful to be in that position at the end of the game to go the Final Four.”

Feagin finished with 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds in the victory for the Gamecocks, shooting 6 of 11 from the field; Te-Hina Paopao finished with nine points .

Star freshman Toby Fournier finished with a game-high 18 points for Duke, going 8 of 17 from the field, playing 32 minutes off the bench with six rebounds.

Ashlon Jackson scored 13 points for Duke and Oluchi Okananwa grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

“Really proud of my team and what a battle it was,” Duke coach Kara Lawson said. “Fighting tooth and nail out there to try and see if we could finish the game on top. Played so hard, dug out of an early hole. Possession game there late in the fourth quarter and just weren’t able to get it done.”

The loss capped off a standout season for the Blue Devils, which saw them win both the ACC and advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2013.

Lawson said she felt pride “throughout the entire game” watching the way her team performed at the highest stage.

“It takes a special group to do that, and that’s the sadness that you feel after a loss is that you won’t have a chance to coach this group together again,” Lawson said. “That’s why March is euphoric when you win but crushing when you lose. I told our group to hold their heads high. They represented themselves well, Duke well, their families well.

“I think everyone that watched the game today that is affiliated with Duke is really proud of the team and the effort.”