South Carolina soaks up steady march

South Carolina’s Aleighsa Welch (right), shown with teammate Alaina Coats during Sunday’s Greensboro Region final victory over Florida State, has led the Gamecocks to their first appearance in the Women’s Final Four.
South Carolina’s Aleighsa Welch (right), shown with teammate Alaina Coats during Sunday’s Greensboro Region final victory over Florida State, has led the Gamecocks to their first appearance in the Women’s Final Four.

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Aleighsa Welch wore a basketball net around her neck like treasured family jewelry as she stood in the locker room Sunday afternoon at the Greensboro Coliseum.

South Carolina had just defeated Florida State 80-74 to advance to the Final Four of the NCAA Women's Tournament for the first time in program history. Welch was savoring the moment until a giddy teammate ran over and asked her for the net they had just cut down in celebration.

Women’s Final Four

At Madison Square Garden, New York

At Tampa, Fla.

SUNDAY’S SEMIFINALS

Notre Dame (35-2) vs. South Carolina (34-2), 5:30 p.m.

UConn (36-1) vs. Maryland (34-2), 7:30 p.m.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TUESDAY, APRIL 7

Semifinal winners

"No!" Welch squealed before handing over the prize that she had worked on for four years.

South Carolina had surely earned it. This was not some fluke or head-turning upset that sent South Carolina to Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla., for a national semifinal matchup with Notre Dame on Sunday. This victory party was a long time coming for Welch and the rest of the Gamecocks.

Remember when South Carolina was largely a doormat in the Tennessee-dominated SEC? It wasn't too long ago that the Gamecocks were winning only a handful of conference games a year. Then Dawn Staley, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and six-time WNBA All-Star, was hired as coach in 2008.

The Gamecocks won only 10 games -- two in conference play -- in her first season, but the program has grown exponentially from there. After making Temple an NCAA Tournament regular, Staley has turned South Carolina into a force in the SEC and a national power.

When the Gamecocks won the SEC Tournament on March 8 for the first time in program history, beating Tennessee in the final, they earned the conference's only No. 1 seed in this year's NCAA Tournament. Tennessee was relegated to a No. 2. It was the second consecutive year South Carolina was given a No. 1 seed.

Asked if she imagined all of this was possible after her first season at South Carolina, Staley didn't hesitate.

"It's always been in mind," she said. "It's just we've got some pieces that will allow us to compete at this level and go into the Final Four and have a legitimate shot at winning."

Staley and her staff brought those pieces to Columbia, pieces like Welch, who was South Carolina's Miss Basketball in 2011. Before Staley arrived, many of the top players left the state after high school. Ivory Latta departed for North Carolina in 2003 and is an eight-year WNBA veteran. Kalana Greene went to Connecticut in 2005, winning two championships on her way to the WNBA.

Now some of the state's top players are staying home, including Welch, a 6-0 forward and inside presence from Goose Creek, S.C., who averages 9.1 points and 6.3 rebounds a game. She played a critical role in helping Staley recruit 6-4 A'ja Wilson, Parade magazine's 2014 national player of the year. Wilson, who played at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School in Columbia, S.C., had her pick of prestigious programs.

Wilson is averaging 12.9 points a game off the bench, second in scoring behind the two-time SEC Player of the Year Tiffany Mitchell, who averages 14.5. Wilson had 10 points against Florida State in the regional final.

South Carolina had reached the Elite Eight only once before this season, in 2002, and missed the NCAA Tournament from 2004 to 2011. Since Welch arrived, the Gamecocks have been in the tournament every season. But they were bounced in the Sweet 16 in 2012 and 2014 and lost in the second round in 2013.

"It has been a four-year process, and every year I learned something different about my team and I learned something different about myself," said Welch, a two-time All-SEC first-team selection by coaches and the conference tournament Most Valuable Player this season. "I look at the situation I'm in now, and every disappointment I faced the three years previous to this is worth it because you had to go through that to soak up this moment."

The Gamecocks have won 34 games this season, the most in program history, and yet moments after they cut down the nets Welch could not help but recall the losses that led them to this point.

"I'm forever thankful for the disappointments we faced because I think it did prepare us," she said.

That includes an 87-62 defeat at Connecticut in February, when the Gamecocks were undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country and the Huskies were No. 2. It was yet another learning experience for South Carolina.

"The Connecticut game did help us because there's another level of basketball out there and we are starting to realize that," Mitchell said. "I think we are playing pretty good basketball right now."

Sports on 04/01/2015

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