This stat shows just how dominant South Carolina was against UNC

There’s not many women’s college basketball teams who can challenge South Carolina. UNC tried – and failed – during NCAA Tournament action last weekend.

Given how closely the UNC women’s basketball team played South Carolina back in late November, last weekend’s NCAA Tournament result came as a bit of a shocker.

The Gamecocks dominated the Tar Heels, 88-41, in a game which was pretty much over by halftime. North Carolina shot a horrendous 23.8 percent from the field, with star forward Alyssa Ustby the only UNC player scoring in double-digits.

The Tar Heels only scored 34 points through the first three quarters, while South Carolina scored 28 in the opening quarter along.

Want a crazy number?

If the Gamecocks had gone scoreless in the second half, they still would’ve won the NCAA Tournament matchup – assuming UNC’s scoring played out how it did.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C4_iqu8v4YG/

You have to give South Carolina some credit for this, as it’s clearly the nation’s best team, but this was an embarrassing loss for North Carolina. The Tar Heels faced some bad injury lucky – Paulina Paris, Kayla McPherson,  but still were tied for first in the ACC at one point.

Stars Deja Kelly and Alyssa Ustby could still come back for a COVID year, but they could also declare for the WNBA Draft. Paris is in the transfer portal, but North Carolina has plenty of guards.

Will Dawn Staley lead the Gamecocks to a third NCAA Championship?

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With Shawn Poppie hire, Clemson hopes to turn its women’s basketball program into contender

NCAA Women’s Basketball: Clemson is hoping to turn its women’s basketball program into an annual contender. To do so, the university tabbed Chattanooga’s Shawn Poppie as its new head coach on Tuesday.

Clemson is hoping to turn its women’s basketball program into an annual contender.

To do so, the university tabbed Chattanooga’s Shawn Poppie as its new head coach on Tuesday. The 38-year-old Poppie replaces Amanda Butler, whom the university parted ways with after a disappointing 12-19 season that included just five wins in conference play. Butler had led the program for six seasons. Clemson hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2019, Butler’s first year.

In two seasons at Chattanooga, Poppie led the Mocs to a 48-18 record and two NCAA Tournament appearances. Poppie was named the 2023-24 Southern Conference Coach of the Year. Chattanooga won the Southern Conference championship in each of the past two seasons. They lost, 64-45, to No. 3 seed NC State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.

“We are thrilled to welcome Shawn and his family to Clemson,” Clemson athletic director Graham Neff said Tuesday. “As we worked through our search process, his name kept coming up in several circles, and the on-court results speak for themselves. He’s coached and recruited at a high level, has experience in the ACC and in the upstate, and we are confident in his ability to get our program to the next level.”

Poppie received a six-year contract from Clemson worth $3.375 million annually through the 2029-2030 season. The agreement was officially approved by the Board of Trustees’ compensation committee on Tuesday. Poppie will earn $500,000 next season, plus an additional $25,000 until the final year of the contract when he’s expected to be paid $625,000. He will also receive a signing bonus of $435,000.

More details about Poppie’s contract, including bonuses, can be found at The Clemson Insider, which first reported the news of Poppie’s hire.

“I am beyond excited to be joining the Clemson Tiger family as the next head women’s basketball coach,” Poppie said in a statement Tuesday. “I am thankful to Graham Neff, Stephanie Ellison-Johnson, and the Clemson University administration for making our family feel welcome. It truly has been a humbling experience getting to know why Clemson is so special — it’s the people. With the resources in place and everyone moving in synergy together, I believe we can compete in the ACC, the best women’s basketball conference in the country.”

Poppie has ties to the ACC, having spent six years as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech. Before becoming the head coach at Chattanooga, Poppie had been promoted to associate head coach on Kenny Brooks’ Virginia Tech staff ahead of the 2020-21 season.

TAKEAWAY

The popularity of women’s basketball, particularly at the college level, is at an all-time high because of celebrated players like Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, LSU’s Angel Reese, and more. Understandably, Clemson wants to become a serious player in the sport. Doing so won’t be easy, but every program has had to start somewhere.

Look no further than the Tigers’ in-state rival in Columbia.

South Carolina was hardly a national or even regional power prior to the late 2010’s. Now, the Gamecocks regularly offer one of the best programs in the country. They have won two national championships since 2017 under coach Dawn Staley and are bidding for a third. South Carolina is a perfect 34-0 this season, and their 109-40 win over Clemson back in November was their 13th straight victory over the Tigers.

While short on championships, the ACC has been a premier women’s basketball league for several years. A total of eight league schools — Virginia Tech, NC State, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Louisville, Florida State, Duke, and North Carolina — reached the 2024 NCAA Women’s Tournament. It’s the sixth straight year that eight ACC teams made the tournament.

To that end, Poppie’s familiarity with the ACC from his time in Blacksburg is something Clemson and Neff clearly valued.

What’s also clear is that the Tigers’ five-year drought from the NCAA Tournament was unacceptable to Neff and others within the administration — as well it should be.

In Poppie, Clemson has hired a coach with a proven record of getting teams to the NCAA Tournament. True, Poppie will face an uphill battle to build the Tigers into a program that consistently competes in March, but there’s nothing to suggest that he isn’t a good fit for the school, or that the Tigers were in better hands prior to his arrival.

Case in point: South Carolina 109, Clemson 40.

Huskers fall to No. 3 Oregon State in second round of NCAA Tournament

The Nebraska women’s basketball team entered the second round of the NCAA tournament on Sunday afternoon.

On Sunday afternoon, the Nebraska women’s basketball team entered the second round of the NCAA tournament. The No. 6 Huskers faced off against host No. 3 Oregon State for a chance to reach the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2013. However, this did not come to pass. Nebraska fell to the Beavers 61-51, ending its run and the season.

The Beavers took a 19-11 lead at the end of the first quarter and kept their cushion of a lead for the remainder of the game. The middle quarters resulted in 34 total points combined, with Nebraska outscoring Oregon State 18-16. The Huskers scored 22 points in the fourth, but the Beavers scored 26.

Jaz Shelley scored 10 points, leading Nebraska in the field as its only double-digit scorer. Alexis Markowski and Annika Stewart both scored eight points in the loss. Markowski also hauled in eight rebounds to lead the team. Oregon State meanwhile finished with three players in double-digits for scoring.

Nebraska concluded the season with a final record of 23-12, the second-best record under head coach Amy Williams.

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Michigan women’s basketball eliminated from March Madness in nailbiter

Great season! #GoBlue

Unfortunately, the University of Michigan is done playing basketball in the 2023-24 season. The Wolverines had a strong regular season but could not get past Kansas in the opening round of the tournament, falling in overtime by a score of 72-81.

In the matchup, forward Cameron Williams led the team in scoring with 18 points while Laila Phelia (16) and Lauren Hansen (13) also hit double digits. The Wolverines started the fourth quarter with a nine-point lead but couldn’t hold on and allowed Kansas to force overtime. Michigan’s defense faltered in the overtime period and allowed 14 points against just five scored.

Michigan finishes with a record of 20-14. The Wolverines were just 9-9 in Big Ten play but had a great conference tournament run that put them into prime position to make the March Madness tournament.

One of the highlights of the season was the 69-60 victory over 17-ranked Ohio State. At the time of the game, Michigan was 10-3 and looking to make a statement against their bitter rivals… which they succeeded in doing. Phelia dropped 26 points in the matchup to push Michigan to victory.

Apart from that win, however, Michigan failed to win another rivalry matchup. They lost the second game to Ohio State and dropped both matchups with Michigan State, giving them a 1-3 record against rivals on the season.

Guard Laila Phelia led the team in points per game with 16.8. Phelia scored 593 total points, which is 146 more than the next-highest scorer (Lauren Hansen) who averaged 11.9 per game. Phelia also scored the highest single-game total of the season with 30 points against Indiana in the Big Ten tournament and led Michigan in scoring in 17 of the team’s 34 contests. Cameron Williams was the team’s most prolific rebounder with 4.7 per game, but Chyra Evans, Elissa Brett, and Jordan Hobbs each averaged over four per game as well.

Overall, Michigan can look back on the season with pride. There was a period towards the middle of the season where it looked like the tournament was out of reach, but a clutch push down the stretch meant that Michigan would be represented in March Madness.

‘Aggies never die’: Aicha Coulibaly & Kay Kay Green recap loss vs. Nebraska in March Madness

“Aggies never die. We showed that tonight and I’m very proud of us. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the win but that’s what we do,” Green said.

The Texas A&M women’s basketball team showed resilience on Friday night by erasing a double-digit deficit against Nebraska in the first round of the NCAA Tournament but it ultimately wasn’t enough as the Cornhuskers advanced.

“It goes back to Texas A&M, Aggies never die. We showed that tonight and I’m very proud of us. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the win but that’s what we do,” said sophomore guard Kay Kay Green. “We’re in great hands with Joni Taylor, Coach of the Year three years ago. She does what she needs to do, she’s a great coach and she’s going to lead this program and do well for us.”

Senior guard Aicha Coulibaly racked up a double-double with a game-high 26 points on 11-of-17 field goal attempts, 2-of-3 from 3-point range and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. The sensational senior added 10 rebounds (5 offensive), 2 steals, 2 assists and 1 block.

“I felt like in the first half I wasn’t helping as much and my shot wasn’t falling,” Coulibaly recalled. “In the third and fourth, my team trusted me, they believed in me and were telling me to shoot the ball. I just had my confidence, kept shooting, doing what I do best and it was working.”

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‘Tremendous year’: Texas A&M coach Joni Taylor reflects on loss vs. Nebraska in NCAA Tournament

“You’re looking at a team who won two conference games last year, nine games total. In year two we’re sitting here at the NCAA Tournament.”

The Texas A&M women’s basketball team narrowly lost to Nebraska in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night in Corvallis, Oregon.

After the loss, Aggies head coach Joni Taylor reflected on the progress that her team made this season.

“Tough, tough game. I’m really proud of our team’s fight to come back and take the lead being down as much as we were going into halftime and the third quarter,” Taylor recalled. “We’ve had a sense of resilience and fight all year long and really proud of how we handled ourselves and came back in the game. Obviously, Nebraska is a really good team, it came down to the end and they made more plays than we did.

“I don’t want to lose sight of the step we made from year one to year two in our program. You’re looking at a team who won two conference games last year, nine games total. In year two we’re sitting here at the NCAA Tournament, which was one of the goals for our program. So I don’t want how this game ended to overshadow the tremendous year that we had in year two of our program. We have our team returning with the exception of very few, so I’m really excited about the future of our program.

“Hats off to Nebraska, they made more plays than we did, they were really good tonight. We just didn’t have enough time on the clock to win the game.”

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Caitlin Clark reacts to receiving a ‘stinger’ to the face vs. Holy Cross: ‘It wasn’t on purpose’

Caitlin Clark took a “stinger” to the face in Saturday’s win over Holy Cross, but said her opponent wasn’t intentionally hitting her.

Caitlin Clark led the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday with a near triple-double in a 91-65 first-round win over Holy Cross at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, finishing with 27 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds as Iowa cruised.

She was also fortunate to not sustain an injury when she took a “stinger” to the face from Holy Cross senior Bronagh Power-Cassidy, who was assessed a flagrant-1 foul for the contact.

As Power-Cassidy cut to the basket around a pick and tried to get by Clark, she swung her left arm and inadvertently clocked Clark in the face. At least, that’s how Clark explained the incident after the game.

Clark told reporters afterward that Power-Cassidy apologized to her on the court after the contact.

“Obviously it looked kind of bad in slow-mo, but it wasn’t on purpose, she didn’t do that on purpose.”

Most importantly, Clark said she’s not hurt.

“Honestly, I’m totally OK.”

Iowa moves on to play the West Virginia Mountaineers in the second round on Monday.

Texas A&M women’s basketball team’s comeback falls short vs. Nebraska in NCAA Tournament

The Aggies trailed Nebraska in nearly wire-to-wire fashion on Friday in Corvallis, Oregon, during the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Texas A&M women’s basketball team trailed Nebraska in nearly wire-to-wire fashion on Friday night in Corvallis, Oregon, during the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The No. 11 Aggies (19-13) faced a 10-point deficit entering the fourth quarter against the No. 6 Cornhuskers (23-11) but fought back to reclaim the lead. However, Texas A&M was unable to keep the advantage after regaining it and lost 61-59.

Senior guard Aicha Coulibaly made a free throw with 15 seconds remaining to give the Aggies a 59-58 lead, capping a 21-10 fourth quarter run. Nebraska scored the final 3 points of the contest from the charity stripe to survive and advance.

Coulibaly gave it her all in what was ultimately her final game for Texas A&M. She racked up a double-double with a game-high 26 points on 11-of-17 field goal attempts, 2-of-3 from 3-point range and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. The sensational senior added 10 rebounds (5 offensive), 2 steals, 2 assists and 1 block.

The Cornhuskers will play No. 3 Oregon State in the round of 32 on Sunday.

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Janiah Barker & Aicha Coulibaly speak to media before Texas A&M plays Nebraska in March Madness

“I think we’re all really excited to be here. Honestly, all respect to Nebraska but we’re ready to do what we need to do… which is win.”

Prior to the Texas A&M women’s basketball team playing Nebraska in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night, senior guard Aicha Coulibaly and sophomore forward Janiah Barker spoke to the media on Thursday.

“I was super excited because this is the first time that I’ve made it to the NCAA Tournament. I’m a senior and it was just a lot of excitement, I didn’t know what to say and it feels great,” Coulibaly explained. “They called our name really fast and I was just sitting in my chair, screaming and jumping all over the place and full of emotions. It’s exciting to see how far we came this season. We had some lows, ups and downs, but we kept fighting and this is where we’re at now, it feels great.”

Barker is grateful to be competing in March Madness as an underclassman.

“First, it’s a blessing to be here,” Barker said. “It was really cool and fun to be apart of the (selection process). It was all very genuine, we had an off day and then we came in ready to work. After the selection show, we saw the coaches and they left to go scout. They came to us and told us that we have a really good chance to do this and they believe in us. I think we’re all really excited to be here.

“Honestly, all respect to Nebraska and everyone here but we’re ready to do what we need to do… which is win.”

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Texas A&M women’s basketball coach Joni Taylor previews matchup vs. Nebraska in NCAA Tournament

“They just have weapons all over the floor and it makes it hard to double because they can hit you from three,” Taylor proclaimed Thursday.

In the second of two installments of the Trev Alberts Invitational, the Texas A&M women’s basketball team faces Nebraska in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night.

The Aggies enter March Madness as the No. 11 seed in the Albany 1 Region versus the No. 6 Cornhuskers. Texas A&M is currently 19-12 overall and Nebraska enters the contest at 22-11. Aggies head coach Joni Taylor spoke to the media on Thursday to preview the matchup.

“They put five scorers on the floor,” Taylor said. “You look at their starters and four out of five make the all-tournament team in some way whether its freshman of the year, first team, all freshman team. They’re extremely talented, play with great pace and also slow you down, pound it inside. They just have weapons all over the floor and it makes it hard to double because they can hit you from three.

“They just stretch you defensively and then offensively they make it very hard as well. In my opinion from the film that I’ve watched, they are as good defensively as they are offensively and I don’t think they get enough credit for how good they are defensively.”

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