When the South Carolina Gamecocks and UConn Huskies both won their Women's Final Four games, they set themselves up for redemption from their earlier-than-desired exits in 2021.
It also set up some of the greatest storylines in women's college basketball: the 2021 AP Women's Basketball Player of the Year Paige Bueckers vs. the 2022 AP Women's Basketball Player of the Year Aliyah Boston.
Geno Auriemma, one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time, vs. Dawn Staley, who has solidified that her hat is also in the ring for one of the greatest of all time and how she has built South Carolina into a contender to disrupt the dynasty that UConn once was.
Staley's team proved to be unstoppable in the final, despite a 10-0 run from UConn in the third quarter putting pressure on their title hopes, the Gamecocks managed to pull through for Staley's second title in six years.
Here are the takeaways from South Carolina and UConn's Women's March Madness Final as the Gamecocks downed the Huskies 64-49.
Henderson puts on a show
While Dawn Staley's team has shown championship form because of how well rounded they are, it's apparent that the national title would not be returning to Columbia if it wasn't for Destanni Henderson.
The senior guard was the difference on both sides of the ball - playing insanely gritty defence that played a huge role in UConn's turnovers and grabbing steals, being quick enough in transition to beat the Huskies down the floor for easy baskets, and being a sharpshooter from beyond the arc.
Guarding Bueckers on the defensive end, one of the toughest defensive assignments in the game, Henderson was unafraid to play the switch and get physical against some of the bigger players from UConn despite standing at 5'7. Henderson also drove Carolina's offence from the point, tallying four assists on top of her total 26 points in the game, a career-high.
As the engine for South Carolina when Aliyah Boston was being shut down defensively, Henderson proved to be the key piece in the win and put viewers on notice of everything she is capable of as the WNBA Draft comes up in a week.
South Carolina's pressure proves to be unstoppable
There's a saying that offence wins games but defence wins championships, and South Carolina proved just that from the jump as they applied the pressure on UConn and held them to just eight points through the first quarter and lead 22-8 to start the game, and while UConn would chip at the lead from time to time, they could never stop South Carolina enough to get close.
The Gamecocks have a 46 game streak of holding their opponent to lower than their average points per game in competition, and with Defensive Player of the Year Boston on their squad, it's not a shock that they forced UConn to commit 15 turnovers.
One of the biggest differences - and arguably sloppiest parts of UConn's play in the game - is that South Carolina absolutely controlled the boards on both ends of the court, out-rebounding 41-20 and controlling their fate on offence to get those second chance points in the match.
The fast pace from the Gamecocks caused UConn to panic and commit 21 fouls as a team, fouling in the final quarter and putting South Carolina at the line that increased their already double-digit lead in the dying minutes of the games that would seal their fate.
UConn shows life in third quarter
Though South Carolina controlled the game from wire to wire, Auriemma's UConn wasn't going down without a fight and finally found some momentum in the third quarter, though it proved to not be enough to stay competitive with the physical and fast Gamecocks.
Bueckers was bound to do Bueckers-like things - and while she was held to 14 points and six rebounds in the game, she lead the Huskies in both categories and was the only player to score in double digits.
Senior Christyn Williams was held to just two points in the loss, while freshman Azzi Fudd was held to just three, but Aaliyah Edwards and Caroline Ducharme picked up the slack with eight and nine points respectively. Olivia Nelson-Ododa was also held to just four points and two rebounds while tallying four fouls.
Evina Westbrook also added a triple in UConn's 10-0 run as part of her seven points and four rebounds in the loss, and the Huskies managed to hold South Carolina to just 11 points in the quarter, but as the trio of Bueckers-Fudd-Williams were held to just 19 points, the rest of UConn could not match the level of play that South Carolina was putting on the floor in order to pull off a win.
Full team effort proves successful for the Gamecocks
While Henderson's performance was undeniably the reason why South Carolina was able to control the game from start to finish, something that made the team so special and why they were the No. 1 team in the country from wire to wire this season was due to how deep they are.
Boston, while attracting much attention defensively, still managed to record her 30th double-double of the season in an 11-points, 16-rebound performance including 11 rebounds that showed why she is one of the toughest players to box out against in the paint when it comes to getting South Carolina going in transition, and earned Final Four MVP honours for her efforts.
Zia Cooke was already one to watch coming into this game - which made South Carolina so hard to defend, due to the fact that they had so many versatile scoring options that could make an impact in the game. While shots weren't falling from beyond the arc for Cooke the way the had against Louisville and UNC in the tournament, she still managed to contribute 11 points and five rebounds which were all defensive.
Senior Victaria Saxton, while recording six points and five rebounds in the win, also was a key defensively putting pressure on the Huskies and managing two steals of her own, playing just as gritty as Henderson to be able to get points on the run for the Gamecocks and grab the offensive boards to get another play going.
Staley makes history with championship win
After winning her first ever title with A'ja Wilson, who would go on to be a WNBA star and win the league's MVP in 2020, Staley once again made history with her second ever title in 2022.
This time, Staley's win proves historic as she is the only coach to ever beat Auriemma in a national title game - entering the game, the UConn head coach was 11-0 in national title games.
She also became the first Black coach to win two national championships in men's or women's Division I college basketball with the win.
