Through so many milestones, ceremonies and moments in her final collegiate season, A'ja Wilson, a self-professed "bucket of tears," kept her emotions, at least on the surface, in check.
But on Monday night, with 3:15 left to play and South Carolina clearly defeated by Connecticut in the NCAA tournament Elite Eight, Wilson left the game for the last time and wept on the bench. It was over, and as it is for the vast majority of college basketball players, it was over with a loss.
Still, Wilson said afterward that her tears on the bench were not just out of sadness.