South Carolina women's basketball: 10 years later, back in Tampa

On April 2, 2015, I loaded my suitcase and laptop case into a car and hit the road for Tampa to cover South Carolina’s first Final Four. It was the first Final Four for everyone: me, the players, the coaches, and the university.

None of us knew what we were getting into. In 2015, the Gamecocks were the new kids crashing the party. The other three teams were veterans. 

Maryland won it all in 2006 and was appearing in its second straight Final Four. Notre Dame won a title in 2001 and was making its fifth consecutive Final Four appearance. And mighty UConn was about to win its third of four consecutive national titles.

Then there were the plucky, upstart Gamecocks.

That team was the fusion of the two chapters of the Dawn Staley era at South Carolina. The upperclassmen like Aleighsa Welch and Khadijah Sessions were the underrecruited, overachieving, mostly local players that were the building blocks of the program. 

The underclassmen were McDonald’s All-Americans like Tiffany Mitchell and A’ja Wilson. They were the ones who turned the program into a dynasty.

The Gamecocks insisted they weren’t just happy to be there. But deep down, anything they did in Tampa was just a bonus. Everything was new – the interviews, the awards ceremonies, the practice schedule, and all the other pomp and circumstance.

It showed in the national semifinal against Notre Dame. South Carolina looked nervous at the start of the game and quickly fell behind by 12 points.

“I do credit nerves a little bit, but I do feel like we were able to just suck it up and just get over all that,” Alaina Coates said after the game.

South Carolina closed the gap by halftime, only to have Notre Dame open up another 12-point lead in the second half. Then, South Carolina went on a 13-0 run and the senior Welch gave the Gamecocks the lead with 1:12 left. 

South Carolina couldn’t finish the job. Wilson tipped Jewel Lloyd’s go-ahead shot attempt, and the deflection dropped to a wide-open Madison Cable. Cable only made one basket that day, but it was the game-winner.

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South Carolina had one more possession, but again, the inexperience showed, and Mitchell was unable to get a decent shot.

Two years later, ahead of South Carolina’s second Final Four, Staley talked about the difference experience makes.

“It helps when you have experience at the Final Four,” Staley said in 2017. “We feel different as a coaching staff. We feel better prepared to know what is expected. We enjoyed it two years ago. We absolutely did. Was it a business trip? It absolutely was. But when it’s your first time, you know, you’re seeing all the different moving parts, and you’re trying to fit all of it in to make it work. Whereas now, we know what to expect. Although we’re going to enjoy it, we’re going to be better prepared for our players and our program, especially the ones that haven’t experienced it. It’s a business trip, but it’s one we’re going to enjoy every step of the way.”

On April 2, 2025, I loaded my suitcase and backpack into a car and hit the road for Tampa. It’s ten years to the day since that first Final Four trip.

“It’s just like history is repeating itself,” said Sessions, then a player and now an assistant coach. “It’s the coolest feeling to get to go try to do it again, but win it this time.”

It’s Final Four number seven, and five in a row. The trip is almost routine at this point. 

I now have strong opinions about media hotels and workrooms. I tease the newbies on the beat for their rookie mistakes (dress in layers, always). I know the schedule for the weekend before it gets posted. I know to double-check when Easter is because the restaurants will be closed.

South Carolina has cut down so many nets that there is an established procedure. The only players on the roster who have missed a Final Four did so at previous programs. The Gamecocks are an integral part of the explosion in the popularity of women’s basketball. 

“We’ve been to five straight Final Fours,” Staley said. “We know what that looks like and feels like and sounds like, and what goes into that.”

South Carolina is currently tied for the third-most titles in program history. A fourth championship would give the Gamecocks the sole claim. It would also move Staley into a tie for the third-most titles by any coach.

South Carolina is now in that rarified air of teams like the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, and Duke Blue Devils. You may love them, or you may hate them, but everyone has an opinion.

Someday, this run will end. It may be next year, or it may be in another five years. Whenever it does, we’ll look back in amazement at how it all started in 2015 in Tampa, when we were just happy to be there.

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