OPINION: The Three Most Impactful Wins Of The Dawn Staley Era At South Carolina
Last night, Dawn Staley surpassed an incredible milestone that only 19 other active head women's college basketball coaches have accomplished, winning her 600th career game. The leader of South Carolina's women's basketball program admitted in an interview after the game that she could've never envisioned having this level of success, at least in this short amount of time. Looking back on Staley's wins in Columbia, which three have been the most impactful?
3) 64-60 Win At No. 8 Tennessee (2011-12 Season)
To become the best at what you do, you have to start small, and for Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks, that meant spending several seasons just trying to climb up the pecking order in terms of perception in the SEC. At that time, the top team in the conference was the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, led by the late hall-of-fame coach Pat Summitt. South Carolina's win in Rocky Top over twelve years ago wound up being in their second-to-last matchup against Summitt. It was also Staley's first Top 10 win as the program's head coach and signaled to everyone that a new power was on the rise in Columbia.
2) National Championship Win Over Mississippi State In 2017
This one should be self-explanatory, as you never forget your first. The Gamecocks were overshadowed in the Final Four that season by the Mississippi State Bulldogs' stunning upset of the tournament favorite, the UConn Huskies, in the other national semifinal. However, South Carolina left no doubt that between the two SEC teams on that night, they were the best in women's college basketball. It brought significant attention to the program, school, city, and state as a whole and became just the 3rd different NCAA-sanctioned sports team at the school to win a national title.
1) 70-52 Win Over No. 5 UConn (2019-20 Season)
Although Carolina won the national title in 2017, the fact they didn't have to face UConn, who had dominated them to that point in their annual matchup, and struggled in the few years afterwards, made some outsiders question the validity of their championship. On February 10th, 2020, the Gamecocks killed that notion by defeating the Huskies in dominating fashion, which wound up being the first of multiple signals that it was South Carolina who was, and currently is, the preeminent program of the sport.
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