The Wolfpack fought their hardest throughout the Final Four matchup, but the defensive pressure, Kamilla Cardoso’s presence and Wolfpack turnovers sent the Gamecocks to the National Championship on Sunday.
Posted April 5, 2024 12:59 a.m. EDT
Updated April 5, 2024 10:20 p.m. EDT
By Gianna Forbis, WRAL Sports contributor
The University of South Carolina will make their way to the NCAA Women’s National Championship on Sunday after defeating the North Carolina State Wolfpack, 78-59.
It was a game of defense, and the Wolfpack was able to contain a lot of shots early on from Kamilla Cardoso and Raven Johnson. After the second half began, South Carolina began to control the scoring, defensiveness and momentum of the game as a whole.
While the Wolfpack were able to pressure and contain dominant players on South Carolina like Kamilla Cardoso and Raven Johnson in the first half, the second half showed the Wolfpack’s struggles in pressuring the team as a whole.
South Carolina’s defense came away with 34 defensive rebounds against the Wolfpack and 12 of their own offensive rebounds to keep the ball on their side.
With six huge blocks from Kamilla Cardoso, Ashlyn Watkins and Bree Hall, it was almost impossible for the Wolfpack to get up and make a shot without a Gamecock ready to defend.
South Carolina knew early on who was needing to be contained the most, and scoring points off of turnovers set them apart in this game. The Gamecocks scored 14 points off of the Wolfpack’s turnovers – setting them up to be in the lead for most of the game.
While Azaiha James led the team in scoring for most of the game, finishing with 20 points,it was difficult for other players to get out of the scoring drought when the ball was in their hands.
Wolfpack guard Saniya Rivers put up 5 points total, along with center River Baldwin scoring only 12 and forward Mimi Collins with 7.
