South Carolina faces a chance at repeated history in Elite Eight contest
On a March afternoon in 2015, South Carolina found itself cutting down the nets at First Horizon Coliseum (then called simply the Greensboro Coliseum) in Greensboro, North Carolina. The program had just clinched its first trip to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in program history.
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Dawn Staley said it was a great moment, especially with a favorable crowd in Greensboro.
“It was rocking and rolling in there,” Khadijah Sessions said. “And it was just an unbelievable feeling because we all believed before that game that we could win that game and we could do something historical.”
Sessions, now an assistant on Staley’s staff, was the starting point guard for the Gamecocks in the program’s 2015 trip.
Staley called the program’s trip to Tampa in 2015 one of the best experiences she’d ever had.
“It opens your eyes to really not wanting to go to the Final Four unless you’re participating in it,” Staley said. “Because it’s that much fun and that much, just, competitiveness and excitement.”
Sessions agreed.
“The only time I’ve been to the Final Four outside of me going as a player was when we won our first national championship in 2017,” Sessions said. “I would not go just because I don’t see a point in going if your team isn’t there. So, she’s right.”
Flash forward ten years and three national championships later, the Gamecocks find themselves one win away from heading back.
“It’s just like history is repeating itself,” Sessions said. “It’s the coolest feeling to get to go try to do it again, but win it this time.”
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In the ten years since, the Gamecocks have lifted three national championships. They’ve also made five additional trips to women’s college basketball’s largest stage.
For Sessions, that trip in 2015 was the opening act of what’s become a budding dynasty.
“When we did it, it was just an unbelievable feeling,” Sessions said. “And once coach got that feeling, I know players wanted to come play for her, wanted to get to the final four. That is what made this a powerhouse once we did that.”
Staley said she was glad to experience that first trip in 2015, even more so doing it now five times.
“So, I mean, I’m glad that we’ve experienced that, I think, five other five other times and since then,” Staley said. “It’s cool. So we’ll be, you know, be great and honored to represent women’s basketball in Tampa.”
