South Carolina returns to national championship after united and unique Final Four win

As the team clung to a three-point lead, Hall opened the third quarter with a quick 3-pointer on her squad’s first possession of the second half to double the Gamecocks’ advantage. As the ball swished through the net, she let out a yell, took a hard tumble to the court, and immediately bounced up laughing, showing all the energy and joy of someone at a concert.

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley couldn’t resist and laughed as well during the intense contest.

The ability to laugh at oneself is a superpower, and in that moment, Hall’s spontaneous reaction provided exactly the spark her team needed. South Carolina settled in, tightened its defensive grip, and steadily pulled away, ultimately defeating Texas 74–57 in Friday’s first national semifinal at Amalie Arena.

With the win, South Carolina booked a return trip the national championship game for the second straight year and the third time in four seasons. The Gamecocks will face Connecticut on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.

“I don’t know, my ankle gave out, and then I just ended up on the ground,” Hall told reporters in the locker room postgame. “I was just happy I made the shot, so I got up and started laughing … it calms nerves. Being able to just go out there and smile. A lot of people have this very serious face, and I do too, but I’m glad I could smile about that moment because it was quite funny.”

Hall’s humor enabled her to relax into helping her team, which was also assisted by the brilliance of freshman Joyce Edwards and timely outside shooting from senior sniper Te-Hina Paopao. The talented triumvirate combined for 38 entertaining points to help the Gamecocks beat Texas for the third time this season.

Playing in her first career Final Four game, Edwards, sporting a large band-aid on her right elbow during the postgame press conference, resembled a grizzled veteran. She shone in the game by collecting her fourth double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Edwards also dished a career-high six assists. In Edwards’ previous three NCAA tournament games against Indiana, Maryland, and Duke, she combined 15 points, 14 rebounds, and two assists.

“I feel I was more definitive,” Edwards told reporters during the postgame press conference. “More open-minded. Like I said, giving what the game gave me, not overthinking, not second-guessing, just going. I definitely struggled in the tournament. But it’s comforting knowing that I would bounce back and influence a win. I’m happy it was today.”

Edwards made an immediate impact in the first quarter. She noticed something that helped her once she entered the game with 6:58 remaining in the opening frame.

“We knew Texas was going to pressure the ball really well,” Edwards said. “We know that their defense is really intense, but the problem is that they were leaving driving lanes, and I saw that on the bench, just sitting there. I could go my player, but there wouldn’t be much help if I stayed close and on my line. So, I just did that.”

Meanwhile, Paopao made 5-of-6 shots to finish with a team-high 14 points. Hall continued her strong tournament performance by scoring 11 points. It was the third time in five games that she finished with at least nine points. Tessa Johnson added nine points, and MiLaysa Fulwiley scored seven points.

The Gamecocks found their ease

After the game, Johnson answered questions while sitting on a round, blue-covered table with one of her legs raised and bent in a cool, confident posture. Meanwhile, Chloe Kitts lounged on a brown bench, legs crossed with effortless ease, when a South Carolina TV reporter asked who the Gamecocks hoped to face in the title game. Instead of answering, she flashed a grin and flipped the question back to him — more curious about his take than sharing her own.

Around her, the room buzzed with low chatter and laughter, while other players leaned back, scrolling through their phones, unfazed by the postgame spotlight.

Everybody in South Carolina’s locker room had been thrilled to see Edwards come through on women’s basketball’s biggest stage.

Add Locked On Women’s Basketball to your daily routine

Here at The Next, in addition to the 24/7/365 written content our staff provides, we also host the daily Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast. Join us Monday through Saturday each week as we discuss all things WNBA, collegiate basketball, basketball history and much more. Listen wherever you find podcasts or watch on YouTube.

Junior guard Raven Johnson stood tall by her locker and enjoyed discussing Edwards’ performance. She was proud of Edwards’s response to the adversity she endured the last few weeks of the tournament. Johnson has consistently encouraged Edwards throughout the season.

“We tell Joyce we need her,” Johnson told reporters while standing in front of her locker. “We need that spark to come off the bench and have a post presence. What she did today is the Joyce we’ve seen all year. We know she’s a dog … You have games where you have slumps and games where you’re not scoring. I mean, great players go through that. I’m pretty sure A’ja Wilson went through it in college … I’m glad it’s hitting her now as a freshman. She needs to learn how to get over things like that and overcome adversity. She’s learning how to take criticism. She’s learning how to learn from mistakes. She’s learning how to not listen to those bad things, This is the beginning for her, and I’m glad she got over that hump.”

South Carolina outscored Texas, 20-9, in the third quarter — which proved to be the difference — and by 14 points in the final 20 minutes. By the time the Gamecocks joyfully exited the floor, their band blared a victory tune, and their early eight-point deficit was a humorous memory.

During the decisive third quarter, South Carolina outrebounded Texas 13-5. Four different Gamecocks scored at least four points. Texas was 4-for-14 shooting (28.6%) while South Carolina connected at a 9-for-16 (56.3%) clip.

South Carolina surged ahead with an 11-0 burst midway through the third quarter, extending their lead from 47-41 to 58-47 with just 56 seconds left in the period. The Gamecocks put on a defensive clinic, holding Texas scoreless for more than four minutes. Edwards capped the impressive stretch with a coast-to-coast layup off a rebound, providing the highlight of both her outstanding performance and the team’s decisive run.

South Carolina veteran head coach Dawn Staley made some subtle adjustments and highlighted a few areas of improvement for her Gamecocks in the third quarter that helped. Of course, she probably didn’t have Hall falling and hilariously laughing at herself on her bingo card.

“You bring things to the attention of our players,” Staley told reporters during the postgame press conference. “The turnovers — they didn’t hurt us as far as they didn’t score a whole lot of points off of our turnovers. It’s just momentum killers. It just creates — it doesn’t allow you to have fluidity from an offensive standpoint. So it’s a lot of disruption.”

South Carolina had three turnovers after intermission. It made 10 during the opening half, including six in the first quarter. What helped South Carolina trail 19-18 after the first quarter was a 14-3 advantage, thanks to Edwards and Fulwiley. Defensively, the Gamecocks also controlled standout Madison Booker after a sizzling start in which she hit her first three shots of the game and helped Texas sprint to a 12-4 lead.

Booker got into foul trouble, which also fueled South Carolina. She picked up her third foul in the second quarter with 2:29 remaining while Texas led, 33-31. South Carolina took advantage by ending the half on a 7-2 run. Overall, with Booker playing nine minutes because of foul trouble, South Carolina outscored the Longhorns 27-16.

Booker never rediscovered her groove. She finished with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting. However, she made two of her last eight shot attempts and didn’t score in the final 17 minutes of the contest.

Jordan Lee led Texas with 16 points.

“Our defense is our defense,” Staley said. “Madison Booker is a tremendous player. A lot of what we’ve done when we’ve had to scheme for her is for her. She’s a big part of — she carries a heavy load of their scoring. And then the next thing was their bigs. We didn’t want them to make paint points. We made it difficult for them. We just tried to disrupt the flow of their shot, especially when they caught it deep. And then over 40 minutes, with our depth, I think we wear teams down.”

Now, the Gamecocks focus on Sunday’s national championship — a chance to make program history. A win would give South Carolina its first back-to-back national titles, a feat never before accomplished by the program.

The Gamecocks, who join UConn and Stanford as the only women’s programs to reach five consecutive Final Fours, aim to become the first team to repeat as national champions since UConn capped its four-peat in 2016.

“The beautiful thing about our team is that we just want to win,” Hall told reporters. “And that’s been the biggest thing we’ve been honing in on all practice this week; it’s just that we want to win. We don’t care who goes off or how it’s done. I’m just pretty proud. A lot of people went off today, and I’m glad that we came out with the win.”

And it was a win that Hall and the Gamecocks will always be able to laugh about.

Want even more women’s sports in your inbox?

Subscribe now to our sister publication The IX and receive our independent women’s sports newsletter six days a week. Learn more about your favorite athletes and teams around the world competing in soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, hockey and gymnastics from our incredible team of writers.

Readers of The Next now save 50% on their subscription to The IX.