Just a couple of years ago, the South Carolina Gamecocks were the most dominant team in all of college basketball, and we’re not talking just about the women’s side.
Dawn Staley’s team was riding an epic 36-0 record, and they looked poised to crush their opposition all the way to the national championship. As you know by now, that wasn’t the case.
The Gamecocks stumbled upon Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes in the Final Four, and the rest is history. Now, looking back on that day, the legendary coach admits it took a big toll on her.
Dawn Staley opens up on heartbreaking loss to Caitlin Clark, Iowa
“It didn’t hurt me enough to didn’t think there was a God, but I did question why,” Staley said in an interview. “I needed to know why. But the answer to the why happened a year later … So God left me on the ‘why’ and then followed it up … it’s an uncommon favor.”
At the end of the day, the beauty of sports lies in the fact that they often give people a shot at redemption and revenge, and Staley’s Gamecocks weren’t the exception to that rule.
South Carolina and Iowa squared off again in the postseason, this time for all the marbles, and Staley spoiled Clark’s record-breaking season by beating her in the national championship game.