Coach Dawn Staley, South Carolina punish UConn, avenge 2025 title loss
After losing decisively to UConn in last year’s national championship, South Carolina turned the tables and was able to exact revenge on UConn.
No. 1 South Carolina took down No. 1 UConn, 62-48, in the Final Four at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix on April 3, ending the Huskies’ 54-game win streak dating back to February 2025.
No 20-point blowout this time for the Gamecocks. After losing decisively, 82-59, to UConn in last year’s national championship, South Carolina turned the tables and was able to exact revenge on UConn. The score of the 2025 national championship game was on the screens in South Carolina’s weight room in the offseason, making sure nobody forgot what happened.
In the lead-up to the game, players talked about how much it motivated them. “I'm just proud,” South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said in the postgame press conference. “Quite honestly, the first time we played them last year, which was in February, I think, or January, then come back and play them in the national championship game, I didn't know how we could come up with 25 points because they beat us by like 25 points the first time.
“You know when you have an uphill battle, how you're going to accumulate some points. We just didn't have enough offensive firepower in the national championship game or the first time we played them in the regular season. ” Add in the nation’s leading scorer, Florida State transfer Ta'Niya Latson, and the outcome was much different this time around for South Carolina.