It has been a very long time because the South Carolina ladies’s basketball crew has misplaced a recreation.
Coming into Sunday’s recreation in opposition to No. 5 UCLA it had been 43 video games to be actual, a streak that went all the way in which again to the Remaining 4 within the 2022-23 season once they misplaced to Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes within the nationwide semifinal.
That profitable streak got here to an emphatic finish on Sunday in a 77-62 loss to UCLA, handing Daybreak Staley’s crew its first lack of the 2024-25 season.
UCLA stormed out of the gate and carried a commanding 43-22 lead into halftime, and whereas South Carolina was capable of shut the hole slightly bit within the second half it was by no means capable of actually get shut.
UCLA’s Londynn James got here off the bench to attain a game-high 15 factors within the win, whereas 5 completely different Bruins gamers reached double-digits. That features Lauren Betts who completed the sport with a double-double, scoring 11 factors and amassing a game-high 14 rebounds.
James was additionally an ideal 5-on-5 on three-point pictures, whereas the remainder of the Bruins had been simply 5-for-16 from past the arc.
UCLA is likely one of the finest groups within the nation has been in back-to-back Candy 16s, and it is a massive assertion win and resume builder early on this season to go together with an enormous season-opening win in opposition to then-No. 17 Louisville.
As for South Carolina, as beautiful because it is perhaps the Gamecocks had been going to lose in some unspecified time in the future, particularly after a 43-game streak that additionally spanned all the 2023-24 season. After dropping within the Remaining 4 in 2022-23, the Gamecocks responded by working the desk a yr in the past on their strategy to their third nationwide championship underneath Staley.
Coming into Sunday’s recreation they had been 5-0 and had gained three consecutive video games by no less than 30 factors.
UCLA was their first main check of the season, and it didn’t go effectively.