SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) 鈥� Dawn Staley and South Carolina are mainstays in the Final Four while TCU is looking to reach ‘ biggest stage for the first time.
The two teams will play Monday night in the Sacramento 4 Regional Final with a trip to the women’s national semifinals on the line. The winner will face on Friday in Phoenix.
The Gamecocks have been to the Final Four in six of the past eight seasons and won three national championships during that stretch. Staley for all of them, including the undefeated 2023-24 season.
South Carolina has a big experience advantage over TCU, which advanced to the Elite Eight for the second consecutive season with basically a whole new roster led by Olivia Miles and Marta Suarez.
鈥淚 think they are very calculated and methodical and who they want to shoot the basketball, who they want to be play makers, who they want to be spacers,鈥� Staley said of TCU.
Coach Mark Campbell has built his team the last two seasons through the transfer portal. He got six players in this past season, including Miles, who turned down going to the WNBA to finish off her college career with the Horned Frogs after transferring from Notre Dame.
鈥淲e鈥檝e built our program literally all through the portal, for you guys that haven鈥檛 followed us,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淚 think we鈥檝e had 18 portal players, six each year. And our program鈥檚 come a long ways. There鈥檚 a lot of negative you hear about the portal. I think there鈥檚 a lot of positive too.鈥�
While most of his team hasn鈥檛 been to the Elite Eight, Campbell insists he learned a lot from last season when the Horned Frogs lost to Texas. A lot of last year was a blur to Campbell.
鈥淚鈥檓 much more prepared in leading our team and understanding and navigating the next 48 hours,鈥� Campbell said after the Sweet 16 win over Virginia. 鈥淭hen your margin for error, once you get to an Elite Eight, the teams that you鈥檙e going to face are just incredible. We have done a better job as a staff getting ahead of that scout and getting a game plan dialed in.鈥�
Stopping Olivia and Marta
South Carolina will need to figure out a way to slow Miles and Suarez down. The pair combined to either score or assist on all 79 of TCU鈥檚 points in the win.
鈥淲e need everybody. In order to beat South Carolina, we鈥檝e got to play the best game we鈥檝e played this season,鈥� Campbell said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e capable of doing it.鈥�
Miles, a , has had a stellar NCAA run. She鈥檚 played with a sense of urgency and renewed excitement, upping her play in the tournament.
Miles is averaging 19.3 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in three games.
鈥淭hey play at a slower pace and control the tempo. Somehow we need to speed that up whether it鈥檚 through pressure or other way to doing things,” Staley said. “We鈥檙e up for the challenge.鈥�
Dominant performances
South Carolina has raised its level of play in the NCAA Tournament, averaging nearly 100 points a game in the three victories. The Gamecocks are winning by an average of 45 points a game. They have been scoring in a variety of ways. In the victory over Oklahoma, they made 10 of 14 3-point attempts. Earlier games it was the post players who were the main source of offense.
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