TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Down 12 points with less than eight minutes to go, South Carolina refused to give up on its dream of playing for the women’s NCAA basketball championship.
The resilient Gamecocks methodically climbed back into their national semifinals matchup against Notre Dame, nearly pulling out an improbable victory before falling to the Irish 66-65 on Sunday night.
“Unfortunately for us, it came down to them making a play when they needed to make a play and we didn’t,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “But I’m really proud of our effort.”
All-American Jewell Loyd scored 22 points as the Irish (36-2) advanced to the championship game for the fourth time in five years, but it took a basket from an unlikely source to survive a scoring drought that lasted more than seven minutes down the stretch.
Madison Cable’s putback for her only points of the night put the Irish in front for good.
“I was just crashing any way to try to get a rebound, and it kind of just bounced right where I was,” Cable said. “I turned around and had an open shot and took it. Luckily, it went in.”
Loyd said no one boxed out Cable on her game-winning basket, adding: “She’s done it all year. She’s the MVP.”
The Irish ran out to double-digit leads, but the Gamecocks wouldn’t go away.
“We didn’t rebound, missed a bunch of shots,” said Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw. “Just a great basketball game. We went to Jewell. She had to do everything. Everyone contributed.”
South Carolina (34-3) overcame a 12-point, first-half deficit and did it again in the closing minutes. The feisty Gamecocks used a 13-0 run to take their only lead on Aleighsa Welch’s offensive stickback with 1:12 remaining.
“We were in the game. We fought our way back. We got the lead,” Staley said. “At that point, you don’t exhale and think you have the game won. … It’s just they made a play.”
Brianna Turner scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds before fouling out for Notre Dame. Taya Reimer had 16 points for Notre Dame.
Freshman A’ja Wilson came off the bench to lead South Carolina with 20 points. She scored 10 straight for the Gamecocks at one point in the second half to keep her resilient team within striking distance.
Notre Dame led 64-52 with 7:51 to go. The Irish missed eight straight shots before Cable wiped out South Carolina’s short-lived lead. South Carolina All-American Tiffany Mitchell’s off-balance 3-point attempt bounced high off the backboard as time ran out on the best season in school history.
Mitchell fell to the court in dejection and was helped up by teammates.
“They were making it hard for me to try and find a shot. And when I tried to pass it, they deflected it,” said Mitchell, who finished with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting.
The Gamecocks hurt themselves, going 7 for 16 from the foul line, and missing six of seven in the closing minutes while they were trying to catch up.
“That’s key. We left a lot of points at the free throw-line,” Staley said. “But you know, still we overcame that to put ourselves in a position to take the lead.”
Notre Dame lost to Connecticut in a matchup of unbeaten teams in last year’s title game. The Irish came up short against Texas A&M in 2011 and Baylor in 2012.
“It’s surreal right now, can’t believe that we’re here,” Loyd said of advancing to Tuesday night’s title game. “Glad we played the early game and can get some rest.”
South Carolina looked like a Final Four newcomer early, falling behind 15-3 in the first five minutes of the game. The Gamecocks settling and getting a pair of layups from Alaina Coates during a 12-4 surge that helped them get back in the game.
Staley has spent the past seven seasons transforming South Carolina from a struggling program into a national contender that spent much of this season ranked No. 1 in the country. The former Virginia star, who participated in the national semifinals three times as a player joined Kim Mulkey as the only women to play and coach in the Final Four, and she drew on personal experience to try to prepare her team for what encounter during its trip.
South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks men’s basketball coach were among the fans in the crowd supporting the Gamecocks.
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