FINAL: South Carolina Overpowers NC State In 78-59 Win To Move Onto National Championship Game!

Andrew Lyon | Apr 5, 2024

Apr 5, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; ISouth Carolina Gamecocks center Kamilla Cardoso (10) shoots the ball on NC State forward Mimi Collins (2) / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

In a battle to decide who would play the winner of the Iowa—UConn matchup in the National Championship game, the South Carolina Gamecocks' depth took its toll on the NC State Wolfpack in a game that was a tale of two halves.

In the first quarter, both teams understandably came out with a ton of energy considering the stage they were on, which led to a combined ten turnovers between both teams. Neither team was able to pull away from the other in the first half, with South Carolina giving the Wolfpack few gimmies. At the same time, the Gamecocks consistently fed the ball inside to their frontcourt, led by Kamilla Cardoso, who had a team-high 16 points in just fourteen minutes of play. However, at the 2:05 mark in the second quarter, Cardoso would awkwardly fall to the floor when going for a layup and would come up gimpy, eventually leading to her heading to the locker room early. Her teammates weren't far behind here, heading into the halftime break with a slim 32-31 lead.

However, everything would change in the third quarter. With Cardoso back on the floor with her team and everyone having likely gotten the 'big-game jitters' out of their system, Carolina quickly went to work. The Gamecocks would hit seven of their first nine shots in the period, giving them a 12-point lead in the blink of an eye and leading to a Wolfpack timeout. The pep talk from Wes Moore to his NC State players would do little to stymie the wave of momentum South Carolina had created for themselves, who took advantage of a Wolfpack team that seemed to run out of gas and had little shot-creating ability on display outside of Aziaha James.

Regarding what we discussed before this game with the offensive glass, the Gamecocks established their will on that front, grabbing 12 on that end and 46 overall. Cardoso led Carolina with 22 points on 83.3 percent shooting from the floor while grabbing 11 rebounds. Ashlyn Watkins would have a career day on the glass, racking up 20 boards, which was a new career-high and tied for the 3rd best mark in Women's Final Four history. The Gamecocks will play the winner of the Iowa - UConn matchup, which will take place later tonight on Sunday afternoon.

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