South Carolina claims NCAA championship over Clark, Iowa - ESPN

CLEVELAND — A year after a stunning Final Four defeat that ended what could have been a perfect season and national championship run, the South Carolina Gamecocks finished the job Sunday in historic fashion.

South Carolina defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes 87-75 in the women's NCAA tournament title game to become the 10th team in Division I history to complete an undefeated season (38-0), joining UConn (six times), Baylor (2011-12), Tennessee (1997-98) and Texas (1985-86) as the only programs to achieve such a feat.

With its third national title in seven tournaments and second in three seasons, South Carolina tied Baylor and Stanford for the third-most championships all time and cemented its status as women's college basketball's latest dynasty. Coach Dawn Staley — a former two-time player of the year who played in three Final Fours but missed out on a championship herself — became the fifth head coach to win at least three national titles.

«It doesn't always end like you want it to end, much like last year. But my [freshmen] are at the top of my heart because they wanted this. It's awesome.… It's awesome. It's awesome. It's unbelievable,» Staley said. «When young people lock in and have a belief, and have a trust, and their parents have that same trust, this is what can happen. They made history. They etched their names in the history books.»

The Gamecocks got the job done by knocking off Caitlin Clark, the presumptive No. 1 pick in next week's WNBA draft, who ends her collegiate career with the most points in Division I men's or women's history with 3,951.

Iowa, which beat South Carolina in the national semifinal last year before losing to the LSU Tigers in the title game, fell short once more of its program-first national