south carolina

It was dominating. It was overwhelming. It was powder-blue pummeling, eight-clap crushing, Westwood wonderful.

It was the UCLA women’s basketball team needing barely two hours to complete the struggles of 45 years, a stunningly swarming triumph unmatched in even the finest of Bruin athletic traditions.

Break out a new banner. Make room in the Pauley rafters. A new collection of heroes is coming home, and they started the party early.

For the first time since 1978, and the first time in the NCAA era, the UCLA women are national basketball champions after a 79-51 finals blowout victory Sunday over favored powerhouse South Carolina.

“Oh my gosh,” said weeping star Lauren Betts after the final buzzer.

Oh my, Lauren. This was a heartfelt triumph for the towering tournament Most Outstanding Player who overcame mental health issues to become the toughest figure on the floor.

“I do it for my teammates,” she said during the celebration. “I don’t do it for me.”

Oh my, Gabby. This was a legendary triumph for Gabriela Jaquez, who scored 21 points with 10 rebounds in the finals while her brother, former Bruin star Jaime Jaquez Jr., watched from the stands one day after he scored 32 points for the Miami Heat.

UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez hugs coach Cori Close during the second half of the Bruins’ win over South Carolina in the NCAA women’s national championship Sunday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

“I imagined this moment, I imagined it so many times,” she said. “Oh my gosh, I’m so happy.”

Oh my, Kiki Rice, Angela Dugalic, Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker, this being a victory for the rarest of teams in college basketball — a group led by six seniors and graduate students who scored more than 90% of the points during the tournament and were openly fueled by a desire to play one more game together.

Oh my, Cori, this being a legacy triumph for Coach Cori Close, a John Wooden disciple who led through thoughtful motivation instead of mindless screaming. This was her 15th season as the Bruins’ boss, which previously made her the longest tenured coach without a national title.

“It’s truly indescribable,” she said from the celebration stage afterward. “The loyalty, the steadfast spirit, the character that they’ve chosen day in and day out. … I am just so humbled that they’ve chosen to commit to our mission.”

One of Close’ mantras is, “Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us.”

In Sunday’s finale, it was always all of them, a scrambling, scrapping bunch that stunned the three-time champion Gamecocks into submission in the third biggest blowout in women’s final history.

This was UCLA’s first finals appearance in the NCAA era, and they were trying to win their first title since Anne Meyers-Drysdale led the Bruins to an AIAW championship in 1978.

Yet they never blinked.

“This was a business trip for us,” said Dugalic. “We had the mentality that the job’s not finished. Now the job is finished.”

Jaquez set the tone in the first quarter by following a Dugalic miss with a flying layup as she was sent sprawling to the floor. She was fouled, converted a three-point play, and the Bruins were quickly sending a message.

They would not be intimidated. They would not be pushed around. And they would play every second, as evidenced by the first-quarter, buzzer-beating trey by Rice as she tumbled backward to give them a 21-10 lead.

The Bruins didn’t even panic when their leader seemed to panic, as Betts spent nearly half of the first quarter on the bench complaining that, “I’ve got something stuck in my throat.”

UCLA coach Cori Close, center, celebrates with her players after guiding the Bruins to the NCAA women’s basketball national championship on Sunday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

Trainers checked her throat, gave her an inhaler and eventually nursed her back on to the court, where she told an ESPN interviewer that her throat was just dry from the desert air.

The Bruins kept the heat on during a second quarter in which they made mistakes, seemed to lose momentum, then collected themselves to maintain their huge edge. At one point UCLA committed four consecutive turnovers and the Gamecocks closed the gap to 11, but then UCLA’s defense got tough again and layups by Rice and Kneepkens helped them regain their advantage.

At halftime UCLA led 36-23 and the game was essentially over.

Jaquez put the bow on it when she hit a late three-pointer that made it 79-45, her shot followed by a smile and a scream to the heavens.

Highlights from UCLA’s win over South Carolina in the NCAA women’s basketball national championship game.

“Gabs is incredible,” said Leger-Walker. “She is that person that you never doubt is going to give her all. She impacts the game in so many ways.”

Leger-Walker ended the afternoon dancing with her teammates just as they have danced all season.

“I’m still processing the fact that we are national champions,” she said.

Believe it. These Bruins will be dancing forever.

UCLA players celebrate after defeating South Carolina for the NCAA women’s basketball championship.

PHOENIX — The greatest team in UCLA women’s basketball history has earned its crown.

With a 30-point lead by the end of the third quarter, much of the end of Sunday’s NCAA championship victory was a celebration of what UCLA had built en route to its 79-51 victory over South Carolina.

By the final buzzer, it was a full-blown party.

It was one of the largest margins of victory in Final Four history.

UCLA won an AIAW title in 1978 against Maryland before women’s basketball was an NCAA sport.

UCLA’s Kiki Rice, right, drives around South Carolina’s Raven Johnson during the first half of the NCAA national title game on Sunday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

Last season, UCLA’s 34-point loss to Connecticut in the semifinal became the worst loss in tournament history.

This season, there was no doubt UCLA was ready for the moment and it ensured it could reverse the history books.

It was perhaps the most UCLA performance the Bruins could have had. In their final collegiate games, Lauren Betts (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Gabriela Jaquez (21 points, 10 rebounds) earned double-doubles and all five starters scored in double digits. They dominated the boards (49-36), played stellar defense and most important, didn’t turn the ball over often.

After the Bruins held Texas to a season-low 44 points in Friday’s semifinal, they held the Gamecocks to 51, also their lowest total all season.

UCLA’s Lauren Betts shoots over South Carolina’s Maryam Dauda in the first half of the NCAA national championship game Sunday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

The Bruins jumped out early while South Carolina struggled with the Bruins’ size and went three for 18 from the floor. Kiki Rice (10 points, six rebounds, five assists) hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the opening quarter with the Bruins holding on to a 21-10 lead.

Near the end of the first, Betts came back to the bench coughing and sputtering, seemingly unable to clear her throat. At the start of the second quarter, she was at the end of the UCLA bench and used an inhaler before returning to the game.

UCLA’s suffocating defense held the Gamecocks to 25.7% shooting in the first half. Unlike Friday’s win over Texas, the Bruins’ offense recovered from a one-for-10 stretch far earlier.

South Carolina made a mid-second quarter adjustment into a zone defense and a half-court press that forced one 10-second violation and another turnover that led to a fast-break layup and and free throw from Ta’Niya Latson.

UCLA’s Gabriela Jaquez celebrates after scoring while being fouled during the first quarter Sunday against South Carolina.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA led 36-23 at the half.

One of the Gamecocks’ only interior presences, center Madina Okot, had three fouls early in the third quarter. With her off the floor, UCLA extended its lead to 18 off a three-pointer from Charlisse Leger-Walker.

Midway through the quarter, a sequence of a Betts layup over the South Carolina defense, a Betts block of a Latson shot and a Jaquez fast-break layup gave the Bruins a resounding 22-point lead.

The Bruins outscored the Gamecocks 25-9 during the third quarter to earn a 61-32 lead off a 13-0 run. It was the largest lead ever for a team going into the fourth quarter of an NCAA championship game.

South Carolina shot a season-worst 18 for 62 from the floor and two for 15 from three-point range.

UCLA players, including Kiki Rice, left, and Gabriela Jaquez celebrate after winning the NCAA women’s basketball national championship on Sunday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

The Bruins held Latson to four points and Raven Johnson to three on one-for-seven shooting.

South Carolina had taken down then-undefeated UConn in the semifinal on Friday.

UCLA will need to rebuild with few returners, but now that her players have won a national title, coach Cori Close should have her pick of the transfer portal.

Now, Close and the Bruins have championship pedigree.

Highlights from UCLA’s win over South Carolina in the NCAA women’s basketball national championship game.

PHOENIX — You’d be forgiven if you thought this year’s Final Four was just a case of déjà vu.

On paper, that seems true — four No. 1 seeds who have dominated every round of the NCAA tournament arrived in Phoenix this week and they are the same four teams who reached the Final Four last year in Tampa, Fla.

Sustaining that level of success during the modern college basketball era, the four teams insist, isn’t as easy.

Connecticut doesn’t have Paige Bueckers; South Carolina doesn’t have Kamilla Cardoso; and UCLA coach Cori Close and the Bruins have a much different lineup.

“Getting here,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said, “is the hard part.”

UCLA coach Close noted during the Sweet 16 that the work to stay competitive in this era is exhausting for coaches, and it’s only getting harder. She will have another rebuild ahead of her immediately after getting to the pinnacle of the sport during back-to-back campaigns.

The Bruins will graduate the majority of its rotation after this season, with all five starters and top bench player Angela Dugalic projected to be WNBA draft picks in April.

Does that make this a make-it-or-break-it year for UCLA?

“I think in the back of our heads, we all know that this is our last go at this,” Bruins senior center Lauren Betts said. “It’s all or nothing for all of us.

”… I think when we do play, especially around this time, you can see throughout March Madness, we come out with a certain level of urgency because it is our last year. I think [Friday], we’re going to come out with that same level of urgency from the very beginning.”

UCLA’s Lauren Betts, left, and Angela Dugalic celebrate during the second half of the Bruins’ Elite Eight win over Duke on Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA senior forward Gabriela Jaquez added, “We’re just fighting for more days with each other at the end of the day.”

While the Bruins will bring back some young talent in Lena Bilic and Sienna Betts and add injured senior Timea Gardiner, they will essentially have to start from scratch. That’s not so unusual in the transfer portal era, where TCU went to the Elite Eight with five starters who transferred into the program.

“It is just brutal,” Close said on Thursday. “It’s a grind and that’s why all four of us should feel really proud that we’re here. That doesn’t make us any less competitive or wanting to win a national championship. But I think it is worth pausing and going, ‘Man, it’s amazing to be in this position, especially two years in a row.’”

To build this team, Close had to get Gianna Kneepkens in the portal, get Charlisse Leger-Walker healthy after transferring last season, coax career-best years out of Kiki Rice and Jaquez, help Lauren Betts come into her own as a defender along with a dominant offensive force and support a player like Dugalic willing to come off the bench.

The other three teams have starters they can build around for years to come. The Gamecocks, arguably the most successful program of the last half-decade-plus, landed Florida State scorer Ta’Niya Latson and Mississippi State center Madina Okot in the portal during the offseason to go along with returners Raven Johnson and Joyce Edwards.

“It’s not going to magically happen,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said, emphasizing strong habits are key.

The Huskies, the defending national champions with a strong recruiting pipeline and unmatched success during Auriemma’s tenure, are somewhat of an abnormality to the changing of the guard in the NCAA. South Carolina has been here for six straight years — with vastly different casts — while Texas hasn’t won a title since 1986 and UCLA never has.

“To do it at the level that the four teams that are here have done at this year, and really consistently, I think all four teams that are here, the only thing harder than building it is sustaining it,” Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. “When you sustain it at the level that the teams that are here have done it over the period and the course of years, it’s really incredible.

“What it takes to live there year in and year out, it’s hard. I think that’s what Coach [Close] was talking about a couple weeks ago. Man, she wasn’t looking for any sympathy or anything. It’s just a statement, man. It’s hard. Winning at this level is hard. It is.”

It might have seemed like a given that this tournament was going to go chalk, but that doesn’t make anything automatic and it doesn’t mean UCLA will stay at the top of the podium for years to come. UConn went three years between titles, after all.

UCLA coach Cori Close instructs her players during a win over Minnesota in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament on March 27.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

None of the four No. 1 seeds have struggled much in their respective games this tournament. The closest was UCLA’s 70-58 win over Duke, when the Bruins trailed at halftime and came back to win for the first time all season.

But UConn went eight scoreless minutes against Notre Dame in the 70-52 win in the Elite Eight. Texas and South Carolina rolled, and Texas is 16-3 against top 25 teams and has arguably the best momentum of any team left standing.

UCLA might have a path back to this spot after teams have shown how quickly they can rebuild. After all, TCU was in the Elite Eight in consecutive years after having to forfeit games due to lack of players.

But UConn will return Sarah Strong and Blanca Quiñonez, South Carolina has Edwards back and Texas has another year of Madison Booker, and other up-and-coming squads like Michigan and USC will be dangerous.

It might not be the Bruins’ last chance to win the big dance, but it might be their best ever. Getting here, after all, is the hardest part.

“I think success leaves clues for who is next,” Dugalic said. “We’re trying to leave that for the next generation of basketball, to sustain that, to show it is hard. This isn’t a nine-to-five, it’s our lives, and that’s what it takes for everyone to be here.”

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Mark Sanford, the former South Carolina congressman and governor whose political ascendancy was stalled by a 2009 affair, wants to return to Congress — again.

Just hours ahead of the deadline to do so, Sanford filed candidacy paperwork with state officials to run in the June 9 GOP primary for South Carolina’s 1st District seat, which he has held twice before.

Sanford’s first political office was in the 1st District. An outsider with almost no name recognition, he navigated a primary for the open seat, finishing second before winning the runoff. He served for six years before his outside run at governor, again pushing his way through a crowded primary, then knocking off the last Democrat to hold the office.

But his eight years were overshadowed by the Appalachian Trail, which became shorthand for Sanford’s disappearance to go to Argentina to see his lover. Sanford’s wife, family and his staff didn’t know where he was.

Beating back both an ethics inquiry and calls to resign, Sanford held fast, leaving office on his own terms.

In 2013, Sanford won back his old seat, beating 15 other candidates in a primary and runoff. He won two more full terms before falling to a GOP challenger in 2018 who had President Trump’s backing.

The seat would go on to flip to Democratic hands that fall for the first time in decades, won back by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace in 2020. Mace is running for governor this year.

Sanford, 65, also briefly ran for president in 2020, challenging Trump for the nomination in what he characterized as a “long shot” effort around warnings about the national debt. Some, including Sanford’s former gubernatorial staffers, initially questioned whether the effort was a serious one, positing that it might be an effort to stay relevant after the 2018 defeat.

Sanford dropped out of the contest just ahead of the New Hampshire primary. Sanford’s home state would ultimately opt not to hold a 2020 GOP presidential primary, clearing the way for Trump’s nomination in South Carolina.

Sanford did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Monday. True to the themes that have dominated his political thinking, an email release on Sanford’s candidacy focused on the national debt, with the candidate saying he felt 1st District voters wanted a representative “who is an advocate for financial sanity that has been lost in Washington for all too long.“

Since leaving the U.S. House, Sanford has hung onto more than $1.3 million in a federal campaign account, funds that he can now use in a primary already crowded with multiple Republican and Democratic candidates.

Kinnard and Collins write for the Associated Press.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Monday night served as a litmus test for ninth-seeded USC to see how a program on its way back to prominence measured up against top-seeded powerhouse South Carolina.

The Trojans were no match in the frontcourt against South Carolina, suffering 101-61 season-ending loss in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

South Carolina’s Joyce Edwards and Madina Okot got going early, scoring nine of the Gamecocks’ first 11 points. South Carolina would finish the game with 60 points in the paint. Edwards finished the game with 23 points and 10 rebounds and Okot had 15 points and 15 rebounds.

USC freshman Jazzy Davidson, who scored a phenomenal 31 points in her NCAA tournament debut Saturday against Clemson, missed her first two shots. But she recovered and found some offensive rhythm, finishing with 16 points. Kennedy Smith picked up the slack in the first half, scoring nine of USC’s first 15 points. Unfortunately, she struggled after that and finished four for 15 from the floor.

Londynn Jones was a spark off the bench for USC, finishing with 20 points to lead the Trojans.

South Carolina, meanwhile, will play No. 4 Oklahoma in the Sweet 16 on Saturday.

Davidson hit a three with 3:54 left in the first half that seemed to give the Trojans some life despite a 14-point deficit. However, things just got worse — USC (18-14) turned it over six times before halftime. South Carolina (33-3), meanwhile, went on a 16-0 run to take a 51-21 halftime lead.

“You know, you can lose, you can not necessarily be as good as a team, but I thought we were conceding,” USC coach Lindsey Gottlieb said after the game. “You don’t need to throw the ball away to the team. We had some careless things that I wasn’t pleased with and just wanted to see a different competitive level in the second half.”

The second half was not easy on USC, with South Carolina forcing three more turnovers in the first three minutes. The Trojans finished with 27 turnovers, which South Carolina converted into 29 points.

USC guard Jazzy Davidson battles South Carolina guard Raven Johnson for a loose ball during the first half of the Gamecocks’ win Monday in Columbia, S.C.

(Nell Redmond / Associated Press)

“They’re an elite defensive team, there’s no doubt about that. They have been all season. That’s definitely a huge part of their identity,” Davidson said of the Gamecocks. “We just had to be tougher with the ball throughout the game. The turnovers were another big thing for us just as a group.”

South Carolina also won the rebound battle 43-27, which compounded USC’s problems.

“I think we needed just a little bit better ball pressure. We just really didn’t box out well, either,” Smith said. “They had a lot of o-boards, I think Okot had about seven in the first quarter, so just trying to limit that is something I don’t think we did very well. I feel like going into the third and fourth quarter we did a little bit better, but we were in a little too deep.”

A tearful Davidson spoke about the influence Kara Dunn and Jones had on her as a player and a person during a short time. She added that said she’s excited to get back in the gym and return next season as an improved player.

USC guard Kennedy Smith drives under pressure from South Carolina guard Ayla McDowell Monday in Columbia, S.C.

(Nell Redmond / Associated Press)

“I need to get better. That’s kind of the bottom line,” Davidson said. “I think, obviously, it’s hard to lose in general, but losing this way really sucks, and I think I could have done a lot better for my team today.”

Gottlieb said there’s no doubt in her mind that Davidson will bounce back. She’ll have the benefit of playing alongside star JuJu Watkins, who sat out this season while recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

“Jazzy has, in particular, taken on every single thing this season and grown from it. That’s going to be part of her greatness,” she said. “I think she and I will look back at this day when we took a butt-kicking her freshman year in an NCAA tournament, and it will be very, very different at some point. And I think that’s because of how she’s handled every single situation.”

COLUMBIA, S.C. — U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the dean of South Carolina’s Democrats, said Thursday that he will run for an 18th House term, a move that could position him as an influential elder statesman in Congress if his party regains the majority in November.

The decision by the 85-year-old lawmaker cuts against calls for generational change within the party. Clyburn is one of several veteran Democrats running again instead of stepping aside for younger politicians whose frustration increased in the wake of President Biden’s failed reelection campaign.

“I’m here today to say I do believe that I’m very well equipped and healthy enough to move into the next term, trying to do the things that are necessary to continue that pursuit of perfection,” Clyburn said at state party headquarters in Columbia. “And so I will run a very vigorous campaign.”

Clyburn is among the oldest Democrats serving in Washington, and the only member of the last Democratic leadership team who is looking to stick around. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and former Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland both plan to retire at the end of their current terms.

Clyburn said that he sought counsel from his three daughters before making his announcement. One of them — Mignon Clyburn, a former member of the Federal Communications Commission — said she was concerned about the political vitriol that her father would face in Washington.

“Her interest was in her daddy and what she thought I might be subjected to,” Clyburn said. “When Mignon finally had decided that she could live with it, I’m here.”

Clyburn said he heard from another woman that “‘we don’t listen to them people up there, and you should not. You should listen to the people down here, and we don’t want you to leave.’ And so I’m responding to the people that are here.”

Clyburn served as majority whip and assistant Democratic leader. Remaining in Congress for another term could give him a chance to serve alongside the first Black speaker of the House as Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York is in line for the gavel should Democrats win control. Clyburn for many years was the highest-ranking Black lawmaker in the House.

On Thursday, asked about the prospect of being able to advise Jeffries, Clyburn said the two spoke recently about a possible working relationship in the next Congress.

“He expressed an interest in my being a part of his leadership, if we were to take the House back,” Clyburn said. “It made me feel necessary.”

Four years ago, when Clyburn announced his bid for a 16th term, he told the Associated Press that he intended to keep campaigning as long as his health and support from his family remained stalwart.

“I’ve told them, if you ever see that I need to go to the rocking chair or spend my spare time on the golf course, let me know,” he said describing his daughters’ counsel.

Clyburn won his 2024 reelection by more than 20 percentage points. First elected in 1992, he represents the district that sweeps from areas around the capital of Columbia through rural central and eastern counties down to Charleston.

Should he serve an 18th term, Clyburn would become the longest-serving South Carolinian ever in the U.S. House. Time horizons are longer for the state’s U.S. senators, two of whom — Republican Strom Thurmond and Democrat Fritz Hollings — served 48 years and nearly 39 years, respectively.

Filing for election in this year’s elections in South Carolina opens Monday and closes March 30. South Carolina’s primary elections will be held June 9.

Whenever Clyburn does leave office, the competition to be his successor will be fierce. He is the only Democrat representing his state in Washington.

As to whether his 18th term could be his last, Clyburn called that an “open question.”

“I’m looking forward to the day that I can spend more time reading, writing and playing golf, and so this could very well be to my last term,” he said. “And it could very well not be.”

Kinnard writes for the Associated Press.