Three years after beating UConn in the National Championship, South Carolina veterans will play much bigger roles this time
South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley led the Gamecocks to the 2021-2022 National Championship. They finished the year knocking off the UConn Huskies in lopsided fashion in the title game.
That was a much different USC team. Back then, Coach Staley played her starters a lot of minutes. Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke, Victaria Saxton, Brea Beal, and Destanni Henderson started every game they were available, too. Reserves rarely played much unless games got out of hand. The ones who got a little run (specifically Kamilla Cardoso, LeLe Grissett, Laeticia Amihere, and Saniya Rivers) didn’t always play consistently, either. In that championship game against Geno Auriemma’s team, a true freshman Bree Hall was the only bench player to see the floor for double-digit minutes, logging exactly 10 minutes, mostly in the 4th quarter.
These days, the Gamecocks roll with the top bench unit in the country. South Carolina routinely plays its top backups for 15 or even 20 minutes in a game. If including the now-injured Ashlyn Watkins, 10 players averaged at least 10 minutes per game this season. Nine of them see 18.9 or better next to their minutes-per-game statistic.
Still, Staley isn’t afraid to lean on her veteran starters (three seniors, a redshirt junior, and true junior) if that’s what her team needs.
That’s likely to happen on Sunday afternoon as South Carolina and UConn duke it out for a trophy once again.
For the first time in years, South Carolina women’s basketball enters a game as an underdog. Not only that, UConn enters as a somewhat substantial favorite, owning the betting line advantage by more than five points according to almost every outlet. With that, the Gamecocks will need big games from their veteran leaders.
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The trio of Bree Hall, Sania Feagin, and Raven Johnson all got rings as part of that 2021-2022 team that beat UConn. None of them, though, were major factors in that game. In fact, with Johnson missing the year with an ACL tear, Feagin buried on the bench, and Hall in a sometimes-in-sometimes-out relationship with the USC rotation, the three class of 2021 prospects combined for 11 minutes against the Huskies that day, even with the outcome not in question late.
They will play big minutes on Sunday.
Hall, Feagin, and Johnson are the team’s most consistent defenders. They also have had some clutch moments in their careers. “Big Shot Breezy” Hall has a history of making late-game 3-pointers. Both Feagin and Johnson have been steadying forces in big moments during this year’s tournament.
Coach Staley will be counting on her veterans in a major way against Auriemma’s top team in years. They were true freshmen in 2022 when they ended the UConn dynasty, and now, three years later, they have the opportunity to cement their own against the same opponent.
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The 2024-2025 season finale will begin at 3:00 p.m. The South Carolina Gamecocks and UConn Huskies will do battle in Tampa’s Amalie Arena with a sizable trophy on the line. ABC will broadcast the contest, while the ESPN app makes it available for streaming.
