South Carolina Gamecocks emerge as powerhouse in women’s college basketball

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• Judy Woodruff:

  Finally tonight: South Carolina emerges as a powerhouse in women's college basketball.

  The Gamecocks defeated the University of Connecticut last night, largely controlling the game from beginning to end.

  Amna Nawaz looks at the champions, their coach, and the state of the women's game.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Well, the UConn Huskies had won 11 NCAA titles, and they had never lost a championship game once they made it to the final round.

  But, last night, coach Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks were the ones who came out on top. Staley is now the first Black coach, male or female, to win multiple Division I national basketball championships. She won the first title with South Carolina back in 2017.

  Rachel Bachman is a senior sports reporter for The Wall Street Journal. She joins me now from Minneapolis.

  Rachel, welcome to the "NewsHour." Thanks for being here.

  You were there last night. You watched all of this unfold. Winning a title for any team at any time is a really big deal. But for this particular team, why was this such a big moment?

• Rachel Bachman, The Wall Street JournaL:

  Well, this really was more than a year in the making.

  Of course, last year, the South Carolina Gamecocks lost in heartbreaking fashion to Stanford, the eventual champion, on a last-second shot that fell out by their star, Aliyah Boston, who was back this year and really was laser-focused on getting back exactly where she did last night. And, this time, they did finish the job.

• Amna Nawaz:

  So, they dominated pretty much the entire game, I think it's fair to say. They have dominated much of the season. They came in 35-2 in the regular season, ranked number one.

  For anyone who hasn't been watching them, why are they so good?

• Rachel Bachman:

  Well, they really have an unstoppable combination of Boston down low. She's 6'5", incredibly skilled. She's the national player of the year.

  And then they have fantastic outside shooters, and including Destanni Henderson, who had a career high 26 points last night. And so this combination is extremely difficult to defend. At the same time, they have got a great defense. And so they really can beat you almost any way. And that's exactly what they did to UConn. They really shut them down in every facet of the game.

• Amna Nawaz:

  What about their coach? Talk to me about Dawn Staley. She herself is a trailblazer in so many ways, right? She was an All-Star in the WNBA, an Olympic gold medalist, now two-time national championship winning coach. Is this a dynasty she's building here now?

• Rachel Bachman:

  Well, it's funny, because, last night, she was hesitant to call it that, because, of course, there are teams like UConn that have 11 titles.

  But she — I think she's definitely building. Two titles in basically five seasons minus the COVID year. And they were they were number one the entire year this season. So, I think, with Boston coming back, as she is next year, and the incredible recruiting that she's done and will continue to do, Dawn Staley, I don't see any reason why they wouldn't continue this winning stretch.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Coach Staley has talked about the pressure she feels as a Black coach, saying, especially going into these high-profile games, she feels that, because she knows, if you don't win, you close doors for other people coming up behind you.

  Performing as she has, two national titles now, what's the impact of someone like Dawn Staley on the game?

• Rachel Bachman:

  The incredible thing about her is really she shoulders that responsibility. She embraces it. And she reaches out to other Black coaches.

  Last — the last time she won the title, she shared pieces of the net with other Black women who coach basketball. And she's planning to do something similar with Black male coaches with the net that she cut down last night. And so she really does shoulder that responsibility. It is a lot of pressure, she said, but she embraces it. And she really is a pathbreaker.

• Amna Nawaz:

  At the same time, we should note she's among the higher paid coaches when it comes to women's college basketball. But it doesn't even compare to what the men get paid.

  She's even noted this before. She said: "In the men's game, even if you're unproven, you come in making what I'm making now. And it's ridiculous." Those are her words.

  How are we doing on closing the pay disparity gap and just the investment gap that we know exists between the men's game and the women's game?

• Rachel Bachman:

  Well, this is where it's very important to point out that the women's game is much newer. The men's championships started in 1939. The women's started in 1982.

  So, the women still have a lot of catching up to do. That being said, there could be more investment. This is what the coaches are saying a lot, administrators are saying. And one of the reasons why coach Staley insisted on the highest salary that she does — I think it's nearly $3 million a year, on average — is, she wanted to set a marker for other coaches, so that they could say, hey, if I'm close to achieving that, I should get close to her pay as well.

  And this is very important in the women's game. I think a lot of coaches have grown up historically taking what they could get. And there are more and more coaches now who aren't satisfied with just accepting that.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Coach Dawn Staley is going to be one to watch for years to come, and those South Carolina Gamecocks. Congratulations to them.

  That is Rachel Bachman, senior sports reporter for The Wall Street Journal, joining us tonight. Thank you so much.

• Rachel Bachman:

  Thank you so much, Amna.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Congratulations to that South Carolina team.