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Tom Goldman, NPR

South Carolina takes its first women's NCAA basketball title

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By now, it's fair to say South Carolina is a better team than Mississippi State. The Gamecocks' 67-55 win in the title game Sunday was South Carolina's third — and most convincing — win over the Bulldogs this season.

The women's first basketball championship is all the more impressive since the team lost senior center Alaina Coates to an ankle injury before the tournament started.

A'ja Wilson, the tournament's deserving MOP (Most Outstanding Player), led the Gamecocks' fourth quarter surge that put the game away. Six-foot-five-inch Wilson, who scored eight of her game-high 23 points that final quarter, came out in force with rebounds and blocked shots.

But Wilson certainly wasn't the only South Carolina player of note. Shooting guards Allisha Gray and Kaela Davis made their usual contributions: Gray scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Davis scored 10 points.

The Gamecocks, as usual, played very good defense. Special mention should go to 5-foot-6-inches point guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore. She guarded Mississippi State point guard Morgan William, the Bulldogs star of the tournament, who hit the shot at the buzzer to beat UConn. Cuevas-Moore did a fantastic job of denying the ball from William, noticeably taking William out of her game.

The TV broadcasters reported that Mississippi State head coach Vic Shaefer yelled at William in the huddle, asking her if she was going to put in the maximum effort. Schaefer benched William for the entire fourth quarter — a painful moment for a player who came into the game as the tournament darling.

"William was upset, but answered questions with class, grace" tweeted ESPN.com's Mechelle Voepel. "She's still one of the big heroes in NCAA women's tournament history."

Not only was this South Carolina's first ever women's championship, it's the first for head coach Dawn Staley. Staley was a highly decorated player in high school, college and the Olympics. She made several Final Fours playing for Virginia, but never won. She finally did, tonight.