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Dawn Staley created South Carolina's perfect championship season out of last year's loss

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Dawn Staley created South Carolina's perfect championship season out of last year's loss

CLEVELAND — As Dawn Staley stood before her team during a meeting a night before the national championship game, she took a swig of water and began to cough.

“You about to cry, Coach?” a player called from the back of the room.

“No,” she said and then paused. “But I might on Sunday if we win.”

The players laughed, but her assistants sensed sincerity with those words. They’ve seen the burden Staley has carried this year as she has adjusted to a team that’s younger and looser. A team that sometimes wouldn’t respond to text messages or would show up late to meetings. A team that is so unlike the group that graduated a season ago.

Staley has jokingly referred to this season’s roster as a day care, and no one in the Gamecocks locker room really rebuffs that point. They wear it as a badge of honor with their own unique sense of humor. And yet, they won and won and won on the floor as they chased just the 10th undefeated season in women’s college basketball history.

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The coaches huddled on the sideline with a minute to go, with the 87-75 win over Iowa assured, the clock just performative at this point and the national championship trophy all but added to their growing case. Staley’s tears began to fall. They continued to fall as she embraced her coaches and players, and as the clock finally expired. They continued during her postgame interview on the court and as she knelt over to catch her breath. She didn’t try to stop them. She wanted to handle the emotions in real time.

“It was emotional for me because of how it ended last year,” Staley said. “It’s heavy, it’s heavy. You carry the burden of every single one of your players, all the coaches and staff members that put so much into our team. And it’s a heavy load to be undefeated, to finish the job. And you get emotional because you just want that for them, and you’re happy that you’re able to — because only one team wins the national championship.”

Last year, the Gamecocks were not that one team. They might’ve been the best team and most talented team. South Carolina led the rankings from preseason through the tournament and as the overwhelming favorite to get the job done. But the Gamecocks did not. They fell short, stunningly, to Iowa. That senior class, which went 129-9 over four seasons and lost just three games total in their junior and senior seasons (by a total of 7 points) did everything right, and yet, they did not end their careers with a win. They ended it like 350 other schools — in a loss.

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“Last year rocked me,” Staley said. “It rocked me.”

In Staley’s mind, that didn’t completely compute.

How can a team that does everything right not also win the national title? How was she not able to get that group — players who never gave Staley a reason to complain or wince — over the finish line? How could the best team Staley had ever had not get that championship?

“I think it drove her,” assistant coach Lisa Boyer said. “We still talk about we didn’t get over the hill with that group. They were so talented and such a strong unit. … It was hard to understand.”

Staley was continuing to process the ending of last season when this season began. A team with five new starters. A transfer from Oregon. No one who averaged more than 20 minutes a game, and not a single player who had more than three career starts. In so many ways, it was the opposite of what she was working with last season.

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Staley has always talked about the look, sound and feel of a team. And this one? It was loud and silly. The players talked, Staley says, about nothing in particular. It was not just unlike last year’s group. They were unlike any other team she had ever had. Not just in some of the mechanisms of how they played on the floor, but especially off the court.

In staff meetings, they’d use the words “pivot” and “meet them where they are” more than they ever had before. Staley talked about how, with such a young team, the coaches were going to need to be both coach and captain, in a way. It was more work, extra energy. They were building the plane as it taxied down the runway.

“If we would’ve stayed the way we were with the freshies,” assistant coach Jolette Law said, “it just wouldn’t have worked.”

“It’s push and pull, but the standard remains the same,” Boyer added. “You have to meet them halfway.”

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That push and pull meant realizing that players were going to take 3s in transition. (“When have you ever seen a Dawn Staley group take a 3 in transition?” said Khadijah Sessions, a former player and assistant coach. “Never.”) It meant getting rid of the rule of no phones the night before games. It meant giving players four days off after the SEC title game. “She was like, ‘Guys, this is what they need. They need space. They need to recharge their batteries,’” Law said. “That’s just being able to understand the makeup and feel of what we have.”

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Junior Bree Hall said she didn’t truly appreciate how much Staley had adjusted to them until the Gamecocks’ swing to North Carolina and Duke a month into the season. While at a team dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, Hall asked the team’s director of basketball operations, Ariana Moore, whether she and the other players could order cheesecake for dessert.

“The last two years, when someone said, ‘You can ask Coach,’ it means, ‘don’t even ask,’” Hall said. “Don’t even bother.”

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But Hall did. Staley relented. The players got their cheesecake.

In the midst of a confetti shower and tears, these are the proof points of perfection: Phones, days off, space, recharged batteries, cheesecake. It’s the best evidence that Staley, 2 1/2 decades into her coaching career, is far from finished. The tears are the evidence of the weight she carried through a year that tested her every day.

“This is probably the first time in my career that a team has more stamina in certain areas. Like much more stamina than I could discipline them for,” Staley said. “So I’ve learned to not fight certain battles. Not core value battles, not the core principle of who we are and who I stand for, but just that their identity, they play loose. They play free.”

A year ago — after four seasons of a team doing everything right — the journey did not end in celebration. A year ago, it did not end with a trophy hoisted and a net draped across Staley’s shoulders. But Sunday, she climbed the ladder after a much different journey from ever before, a much harder journey in many ways. It was one that included more pivoting and adjusting, a test every day and reckoning with the ending to last season that rocked her to her core. The sight, sound and feel of this year were completely different, but so too was the ending. In many ways, Staley’s own sight, sound and feel are different because of this year.

The Gamecocks might not have done everything right, might not have even come close, but they were something else that is more rare: They were perfect.

(Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)

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Timberwolves overcome 20-point deficit to stun defending-champion Nuggets in Game 7

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Timberwolves overcome 20-point deficit to stun defending-champion Nuggets in Game 7

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The NBA Conference Finals are set after the second Game 7 on Sunday saw the Minnesota Timberwolves take down the Denver Nuggets, 98-90.

Unlike the league’s earlier Game 7, when the Indiana Pacers made history with their fantastic shooting in a dominant win over the New York Knicks, this one was a dogfight in which Minnesota didn’t pull away until late in the fourth quarter. 

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The Nuggets, the reigning NBA champions playing at home in this matchup, had all the momentum going for them on Sunday – to where they had a 20-point, 58-38, lead early in the third quarter. 

Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves drives to the basket against Christian Braun #0 of the Denver Nuggets during the second quarter in Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round Playoffs at Ball Arena on Sunday in Denver.  (C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images)

Then, Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards finally got shots to fall, and good offense led to great defense on the other end of the floor. 

The Timberwolves won the third quarter, 28-14, and they just kept it going into the fourth quarter. Minnesota would have a 30-point swing, which was capped by an Edwards three-pointer that made it 92-82 with 3:07 remaining in the game. 

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Nuggets fans at Ball Arena were screaming to keep their team in it, but the Timberwolves’ hustle proved to be too much in the end. 

PACERS SHOCK KNICKS WITH HISTORIC GAME 7 OFFENSIVE ONSLAUGHT, MOVE ON TO EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

Nikola Jokic, who was gassed at the end of this game after sitting just one minute, made his final bucket with 1:02 left to cut the T-Wolves’ lead to five points. There was still a fleeting chance they could come back, but Karl-Anthony Towns – Minnesota’s co-leading scorer – put an exclamation mark on the victory with a putback dunk on a Mike Conley missed layup. 

Towns finished with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting with 12 rebounds, two steals, two assists and one block to help his squad reach the Conference Finals. Teammate Jaden McDaniels also poured in 23 points on 7-of-10 from the field, including three three-pointers with six rebounds. 

Nikola Jokic dribbles

Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets looks to pass against Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves during the third quarter in Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round Playoffs at Ball Arena on Sunday in Denver. (C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images)

The performance by McDaniels was needed because Edwards, who has been Minnesota’s go-to scorer, didn’t have the best day with the rock in his hand. He finished with 16 points on 6-of-24 shooting, including 2-of-10 from beyond the arc.

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However, his hustle never quit, as he had eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals for the T-Wolves.

Minnesota also saw quality minutes from the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, Naz Reid, who racked up a couple of clutch buckets in the fourth quarter, including a putback dunk like Towns. He had 11 points and four rebounds. 

For the Nuggets, they failed to hit their shots from three, finishing 24.2% as a team. Jokic, who went 2-of-10 from there, ended with 34 points and 19 rebounds during his marathon of a Game 7. 

Jamal Murray had a game-high 35 points, but he also struggled from three with only four of his 12 attempts falling. He went 13-of-27 in the field overall with three rebounds and three assists.

Anthony Edwards reacts on court

Anthony Edwards #5 of the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrates a three point basket during the third quarter against the Denver Nuggets in Game 7 of the Western Conference Second Round Playoffs at Ball Arena on Sunday in Denver. (C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images)

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After the stunning come-from-behind victory, Minnesota will now play host to Dallas on Wednesday to kick off the series that will determine who represents the West in the NBA Finals.  

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Balanced UCLA softball beats Grand Canyon, advances to super regional

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Balanced UCLA softball beats Grand Canyon, advances to super regional

Maya Brady had to wait a little bit, but the Pac-12 Conference player of the year entered the top 10 on UCLA’s all-time hits list in the fifth inning on a single up the middle to give the Bruins a decisive 9-1 run-rule win over Grand Canyon University to win the NCAA softball Los Angeles Regional.

It was UCLA’s second win against Grand Canyon this weekend, with the Bruins also run-ruling the Lopes 9-0 on Friday in the tournament’s opening game.

“We knew that the run-rule on Friday didn’t mean anything, we were just ready to play,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “If we wanted to extend our season, we had to take it today no matter who was in the other dugout. It’s about us.”

The Bruins set the tone in the first inning Sunday when senior catcher Sharlize Palacios hit her third home run of the weekend, a moonshot over the left-center- field fence to bring in Brady and Jadelyn Allchin, giving UCLA an early 3-0 lead.

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“We were just focused on coming out, it was kind of like a killer mentality. We wanted to go out and make a statement,” Palacios said of her team’s first inning. “We just showed them we were ready to play.”

Allchin, who went three for three with a walk Sunday, led the charge offensively for UCLA with a solo home run to open the top of the third inning and extend the Bruins lead to 4-0. She hit a single in the following inning to load the bases with no outs. The Bruins scored three runs in the fourth to balloon their lead by another four runs.

“I was wanting to come into the game with more patience,” Allchin said of her first home run since April 6. “So just being able to trust the process and just being able to trust all the work that we’ve been putting in, I was able to just kind of set myself up in the position to make contact and put a good swing on it.”

The Lopes got a home run from Tinley Lucas in the bottom of the third inning, but their bats had no answer for UCLA pitcher Taylor Tinsley, who struck out six of the 20 batters she faced through five innings while giving up two hits.

“We wouldn’t be sitting in this room if it wasn’t for Taylor Tinsley and what she’s done throughout this entire season. She’s put the team on her back,” Inouye-Perez said. “Her presence has just locked on and the growth that she’s had from last year to this year is just truly amazing.”

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Grand Canyon, on the other hand, went through four pitchers , which head coach Shannon Hays attributed largely to a nagging hip flexor injury to senior Hailey Hudson.

“She’s been a mainstay for us and to not have her innings, how we’ve had them all year, really stretched us,” Hays said of his pitching strategy. “But you know, [we were] probably not trying to get [UCLA’s] lineup too comfortable and see one pitcher over and over. It’s what we attempted to do, obviously it didn’t work out how we wanted it to.”

UCLA will now host Georgia in a super regional next weekend, with the Bruins’ eyes set on Oklahoma City and the Women’s College World Series.

“It’s what we call the ‘success phase’ and it’s the best time of the season,” Inouye-Perez said. “Right now, we just want to keep on playing … and right now, we’re really enjoying playing softball.”

Stanford knocks out Cal State Fullerton

Aly Kaneshiro doubled in two runs during a four-run third inning to lift the Cardinal to a 4-2 victory in a winner-take-all game and eliminate the Titans.

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Fullerton took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a triple to right by Jessi Alcala and later an error on a ground ball that allowed Alcala to score.

Earlier Sunday, Fullerton forced a decisive game against Stanford with an 8-1 win, getting two RBIs from Peyton Toto in a 12-hit attack.

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Xander Schauffele walks it off with 18th-hole birdie to win PGA Championship

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Xander Schauffele walks it off with 18th-hole birdie to win PGA Championship

Xander Schauffele walked it off at Valhalla Golf Club on Sunday, birdying the 18th hole to finish 21-under for the PGA Championship victory. 

Schauffele’s 263 strokes over his four rounds is the lowest scoring total in major championship history. 

Schauffele was tied with Bryson DeChambeau, who shot a 64, at 20-under entering the final hole. Schauffele, after going up and down to save par on the 17th hole, walked into the 18th tee knowing a birdie would give him the Wanamaker Trophy. 

He did just that and Schauffele can forever say he’s a major champion. 

This is a developing story. Check back for more updates. 

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