Climb the ladder, cut down the nets.
It wasn’t easy, but Monday night in California, that’s how the story ends.
The South Carolina women’s basketball was facing a foe that pushed it to the limit in the Elite Eight two years prior. The Gamecocks were without their 6-foot-5 defensive anchor and had to sculpt a new identity through the crucible of tournament play.
And yet, Dawn Staley’s bunch is going where they want to be next week: Dallas and the Final Four.
No. 1-seed South Carolina tore out of a double-digit lead and held on in a 71-64 win against 3-seed Florida State.