South Carolina Gamecocks go wire-to-wire against UConn Huskies to win second national championship

MINNEAPOLIS — One year after a heartbreaking loss in the Final Four to eventual champion Stanford, No. 1 South Carolina found redemption, earning the program's second national championship with a 64-49 victory over 2-seed UConn on Sunday at Minneapolis' Target Center.

The Gamecocks, who went 14-0 against teams ranked in the Associated Press top 25 this season, became the eighth program to win multiple national titles in NCAA women's basketball history, joining UConn (11), Tennessee (8), Stanford (3), Baylor (3), Notre Dame (2), USC (2) and Louisiana Tech (2).

South Carolina is also the 12th team to go wire-to-wire as No. 1 in the AP poll and win it all.

South Carolina's 35 wins are the most in a single season in program history; seven of them were over national championship-winning coaches, and two were over UConn's Geno Auriemma, as the Gamecocks had previously beaten the Huskies 73-57 on Nov. 22 in the Bahamas.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley is also now 2-0 in NCAA national championship games after leading her squad past Mississippi State for the 2017 title.

After going 11-0 in his previous national championship appearances, Auriemma was handed his first loss in the title game.

The Huskies, whose 11 titles are tied for the most in Division I basketball, are still in search of their first title since taking home four straight from 2013-16. Their five straight NCAA tournaments without a championship is the longest the program has gone since earning its first title in 1995.

National player of the year Aliyah Boston finished with 11 points and 16 rebounds, which allowed the Gamecocks to demolish the Huskies on the boards 49-24. Guard Destanni Henderson came out with a career-high 26 points to go along with four assists,