S. Carolina defeats Miss. State for women’s title

In the 26 years since Dawn Staley’s first shot at a national championship died in overtime of the 1991 title game, her University of Virginia team losing a heartbreaker to Tennessee, Staley didn’t stop dreaming about what it would be like to win that one title that had eluded her.

Even after a playing career that included three Olympic gold medals, a spot on the WNBA’s all-decade team and enshrinement in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, it still bothered Staley that she never was an NCAA champion.

But now her trophy case is full. And it turns out that winning a championship game as a coach is just as sweet.

Staley’s University of South Carolina team dominated the final 35 minutes of Sunday’s national championship game against Mississippi State to win the school’s first title in women’s basketball, 67-55, thanks to a game plan Staley crafted specifically designed to defeat a Bulldogs team South Carolina had already defeated twice before this season.

A’ja Wilson, the homegrown talent who picked Staley and South Carolina three years ago over powerhouse programs like Connecticut, scored 23 points (on 9-of-15 shooting) and grabbed 10 rebounds, despite a two-inch height disadvantage against Mississippi State’s 6-foot-7 center Teaira McCowan. Wilson also blocked two shots and had two steals and took home the trophy as the Final Four’s most outstanding player

Few elite players choose to coach. Even fewer can coach as well as they played. Now Staley is the second African-American coach to win a women’s national title. The first, Carolyn Peck, who won at Purdue in 1999, gave Staley a piece of her championship net.

“I’m going to have to pass a piece of my net on to somebody else so they can share this and hopefully accomplish something as big as this," Staley said