South Carolina women’s basketball had a historic season — with or without NCAA championship

DALLAS — In 2022, South Carolina women’s basketball ended the season in tears of joy, hoisting the NCAA championship trophy after dominating UConn in the title game.

Though 2023 was undoubtedly the most successful season in program history, it is a season that ended in heartbreak. It will be remembered as the year of Caitlin Clark, the season when the unanimous No. 1 team in the country fell to 2-seed Iowa making its first Final Four appearance since 1993.

But regardless of the Gamecocks’ 77-73 loss to Iowa in the Final Four at American Airlines Center on Friday, this team has earned the right to be remembered and to have its own story. One loss — at the worst possible moment — should not negate a historic level of achievement.

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“I’m going to remember a fun year. I think we had so many great experiences, just winning — how many games was that? 36 games. Like I feel like that’s unbelievable,” Gamecocks star Aliyah Boston said. “Coach (Dawn Staley) told us in the locker room, she was like ‘This is rare.’ Teams can’t say they did that. Even though this didn’t end the way we wanted it to, those 36 games prior to this were really good.”

Led by the five seniors in the recruiting Class of 2019 — ‘the Freshies’ — South Carolina put together the first undefeated regular season in program history in 2022-23. It was ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll from wire-to-wire for the second consecutive season. The team won its third SEC regular-season championship in four years and avenged last year’s SEC tournament championship loss with a dominant win over Kentucky.

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The Gamecocks beat UConn in Hartford for the first time ever. They reached a third consecutive Final Four, which likely would have been a fourth if the NCAA Tournament was played in 2020. They set countless program records: the longest winning streak, the longest home winning streak, the most wins in a season, the most SEC awards in a season.

‘The Freshies’ left their last game at Colonial Life Arena with a remarkable 60-1 record at home and finished their South Carolina careers on Friday with an all-time record of 129-9. In four years, they never lost more than five games in a season and only lost more than two in 2020-21.

“To have seniors like we did this year, you learn a lot,” sophomore Bree Hall said. “Having Aliyah Boston, Zia, even Brea Beal. She might not say too much, but she’s going to be vocal and she’s going to teach you some things. Having them there, I’ll definitely be taking with me the things they taught me this year.”

This South Carolina team was special, even without a national championship, and Staley knows it.

“This is fun to come to the Final Four as a participant. It’s fun. I don’t like coming other than coming as a participant, and I didn’t really have to think about that for three years,” Staley said. “We’re not going to have the same team (next year). We’re going to have a different team that has different characteristics, that has different players. They’re going to be put in positions that will fill a void that’s going to be left by some of our seniors, so I look forward to that challenge.”

So do the young players who look up to them, the players who will aim to bring South Carolina to a fourth straight Final Four in 2024. Freshman Ashlyn Watkins said it’s not hard to feel proud of the season the team had, and Friday’s loss will linger as motivation for next season.

“This was our first loss of the season, and that’s crazy,” Watkins said. “Not many teams get to do that, so I feel like we should stand with our heads high … That’s what losses are supposed to do. They’re supposed to make you want it more.”

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Why South Carolina women’s basketball season was historic despite loss