MINNEAPOLIS — Days after her South Carolina Gamecocks swept to a fourth Final Four, North Philadelphia’s Dawn Staley swept a pair of major coaching honors: the Naismith and U.S. Basketball Writers’ women’s Coach of the Year awards.
Led by star big Aliyah Boston and guards Zia Cooke and Destanni Henderson, South Carolina has a 33-2 record this season, including 12 wins over nationally ranked opponents — Connecticut, N.C. State and Stanford among them — by an average of 13.5 points.
The Gamecocks won the Southeastern Conference regular season title, then were upset in the SEC tournament championship game by Kentucky 64-62. Their only other loss was at Missouri on Dec. 30, 70-69 on an overtime buzzer-beater that’s been one of the season’s most viral moments.