South Carolina meets UCLA in NCAA women's title game seeking a 4th title as Bruins chase their 1st

PHOENIX (AP) — Dawn Staley and South Carolina are seeking for a fourth national championship in the last nine years when they meet UCLA in the NCAA women's basketball title game Sunday.

The Gamecocks have reached the championship game in four of the past five seasons while the Bruins are playing in their first NCAA title contest.

Both teams played stifling defense in the semifinals of March Madness, with South Carolina knocking off UConn 62-48 to end the Huskies’ 54-game winning streak on Friday night. UCLA was even more stingy on the defensive end in its 51-44 win over Texas.

South Carolina and UCLA have played each other many times over the past few seasons, but this time the stakes couldn't be higher.

The Bruins have been on a mission this season since losing to UConn in the Final Four last year. It was the Bruins’ first-ever trip to the national semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. With most of the key players back from that team along with a couple of new additions, UCLA ran through the regular season, with the only setback a November tournament loss to Texas in Las Vegas.

Cori Close and her team will try to hang a championship banner to go with the one the school won by taking the 1978 AIAW title, which was the postseason tournament for women’s basketball before the NCAA took over in 1982.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness