PHOENIX — South Carolina’s Dawn Staley remembers her first national championship game.
It was 2017 and the Gamecocks were taking on Mississippi State, then coached by Vic Schaefer.
Staley’s team prevailed.
But she’s hoping UCLA doesn’t have beginner’s luck Sunday when the two teams face off for the NCAA Tournament title.
“The first is always special,” Staley said. “It’s always special to get here, to exhale… You’re playing on the last day of college women’s basketball. It’s a great honor and a great feat whether you win or lose. You also are measuring where your program can continue to go.”
Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez returned to UCLA for a chance to win a national championship. A year ago, the Bruins were sent packing by UConn in the Final Four. This time, they beat Texas in what coach Cori Close described as a “rugby” match.
But what happened Friday doesn’t matter. UCLA has to focus on what it can do to beat a gritty, hard-nosed South Carolina team that has ample experience at this stage.
It’s going to take a full 40-minute effort and minimizing errors. As South Carolina proved at the start of the second half Friday night, all it takes is one run — a series of capitalizing on opponents’ mistakes — to create just enough separation to pull off a win.
UCLA has its work cut out for it. Raven Johnson is the Gamecocks’ fearless leader. Sophomore Joyce Edwards is a bucket. There are contributors up and down the roster.
But the Bruins have plenty of talent, too, including six players who could hear their names called at the April 13 WNBA draft.
Betts is keeping everything in perspective at this stage. She said Close had a “Cori-ism” that has stuck with her all season.
“She said it yesterday, rings will collect dust and … banners will — whatever,” Betts said. “But she’s like, the memories you create…”
Last forever?
“Something like that… It’s a beautiful message, but I hear it a lot. But it’s beautiful, It comes from a good place. It’s a really good quote,” she said.
Close has poured in so much to her players, especially Betts. It’s something the senior center will never forget.
“She never has given up on me,” Betts said. “Through everything that we’ve been through, how much we push each other, she pushes me every single day even on the days that I don’t want to hear her, on the days where she knows she has to be a jerk sometimes.
“She just knows what I’m capable of and she believes in me so much and is so confident in me days when I don’t even believe in myself. I can’t ask for a better person to coach me. When you have someone who has taken you from such a dark place and has gotten you to where I am today, I mean, she’s such an amazing person in my life. I’m just always going to be very thankful for her.”