South Carolina is a 6.5-point favorite to win the 2024 women’s NCAA Tournament championship game against Iowa, according to BetMGM.
The Gamecocks and Hawkeyes will play Sunday at 3 p.m. ET at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. Iowa beat South Carolina 77-73 in the national semifinals last year to end South Carolina’s perfect season. Caitlin Clark scored 41 points in this upset.
Sunday’s showdown guarantees either South Carolina’s third national title (2017, 2022) or Iowa’s first national title. Iowa lost to LSU in last year’s championship game.
The Gamecocks (37-0) look to become the 10th Division I women’s basketball team to go undefeated and win the national title, and the first since the 2015-16 UConn Huskies went 38-0 and won their fourth consecutive national title. This UConn team has only won once by less than 10 points all season. South Carolina has won six games by fewer than 10 points this season, including a close 79-75 victory over Indiana in the Sweet 16.
South Carolina defeated NC State 78-59 in the first national semifinal on Friday. American center Kamilla Cardoso led with 22 points and 11 rebounds. It was a close game in the first half, with South Carolina leading by just one point at halftime. But South Carolina outscored NC State 29-6 in the third quarter to earn its 37th straight victory of the season.
South Carolina opened the season at +290 to win the national title at BetMGM and was a -135 favorite to win the NCAA Tournament when the bracket was announced Selection Sunday. Iowa opened the season with the second-best odds to win the national title at +600.
Clark scored 21 points in the Hawkeyes’ 71-69 win over UConn. UConn led Iowa 32-26 at halftime and held Clark to just three points in the first two quarters. But the Hawkeyes and Clark responded in the second half, beating the Huskies 45-37, to advance to their second straight national title game. Hannah Stuelke led Iowa with 23 points.
(Photo by Kamilla Cardoso of South Carolina: Steph Chambers/Getty Images)