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By Megan Armstrong
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The No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks snapped the No. 1 UConn Huskies' 54-game winning streak by beating them in the Final Four of the women's NCAA Tournament on Friday night.
The game wasn't particularly close down the stretch, as South Carolina pulled away and won 62-48, but it did not lack for drama.
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley had to be physically separated after a screaming match at the end of the game.
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Auriemma declined to go into detail about what happened with Staley at his postgame presser, other than expressing frustration that he "waited for like three minutes" for Staley to meet him at halfcourt to shake hands.
Staley told ESPN's Holly Rowe that she had "no idea" what set off Auriemma. Staley did shake Auriemma's hand pregame.
"I'm of integrity, so if I did something wrong to Geno, I had no idea what I did," Staley said. "I guess he thought I didn't shake his hand at the beginning of the game. I didn't know. I went down there pregame [and] shook everybody on his staff's hand. I don't know what he came with after the game, but, hey, sometimes things get heated. We move on."
South Carolina icon and Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson won't let UConn icon and Dallas Wings All-Star Paige Bueckers move on.
At least their trash talk was much more lighthearted than that between their former coaches.
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Shortly after South Carolina ended UConn's quest to win back-to-back championships, Wilson went on a Threads posting spree.
The four-time WNBA MVP posted a dancing, smirking child, followed by "HELL YEAHHHH" and "Oh Paigeeeeeeeeee....where are youuuu."
Finally, Wilson posted a screenshot from a FaceTime with Bueckers, who is shown flipping off Wilson with a displeased expression. Wilson is seen holding an "L" to her forehead with her tongue out. "I found her y'all," Wilson captioned it, including two crying emojis and a crying-laughing emoji.
At Team USA training camp this week, Bueckers told USA Today that she and Wilson made a bet on the game.
"She swears she's not gonna do it because I'm not her teammate, but it was [that] in a preseason game, for the first half — she only said first half — she would have to wear to a UConn PE in the A'Twos or A'Ones," Bueckers said. "Then, I would, well, I'm not even gonna talk about if we're gonna lose because we're gonna win, but I would have to wear the South Carolina PEs."
Wilson has a statue outside of Colonial Life Arena at the University of South Carolina. The three-time WNBA champion was part of the Gamecocks team that won the 2017 national title, Staley's first of three championships at South Carolina.
Bueckers led UConn to a national championship over South Carolina last April before the Wings drafted her at No. 1 overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
South Carolina will face No. 1 UCLA in the NCAA Division I women's basketball national championship game on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. EST on ABC. It will mark Staley and the Gamecocks' third straight national championship appearance and fourth in five years.
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