HARTFORD, Conn. — Dawn Staley cautioned if her No. 1-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks were actually the favorite heading into a heavily anticipated title game rematch with No. 5 Connecticut on Sunday. Sure, they had defeated the Huskies in a dominating title game on a neutral court in April. They’d taken them down at home in Columbia. They even held the current series streak, winning three of the past four.
Her point was South Carolina hadn’t won in Connecticut in the mecca of college basketball, a hostile environment that decades of success built.
Now, they have.