Dawn Staley, South Carolina overachieved but title game loss is still crushing

PHOENIX — Dawn Staley woke up 40 minutes away from a fourth national championship , but the South Carolina women's basketball coach fell short. The Gamecocks had no answers for their opponent once again, losing 79-51 to UCLA on April 5, one year after losing 82-59 to UConn. South Carolina's recent history of winning was on full display in the Final Four, holding the Huskies to their worst shooting night in four seasons to advance to a third straight title game.

But not even 48 hours later the Gamecocks were on the receiving end of a crushing defeat. "The things we built our success on weren't happening for us tonight. And UCLA made us pay for it," Staley said.

Staley came into the game fifth in all-time in NCAA Tournament winning percentage (. 771), with her streak of three title game appearances tied for the second-longest streak in March Madness history. A win would have moved Staley to tied for the third-most championships all time, behind UConn coach Geno Auriemma's 12 and the late Pat Summitt, who won eight with Tennessee.

Kim Mulkey remains in third alone with four titles, keeping Staley tied with Tara VanDerveer, who won three with Stanford. The victory for the Bruins marked the first in program history and the first for Cori Close, who has been at UCLA for 15 seasons. She's just the first coach not named Staley, Auriemma, Mulkey, VanDerveer or Muffet McGraw to win a national championship since 2011.