Staley did nothing to stop what Joyce Edwards was feeling. She didn’t want to.
“I let her sit in her sadness,” Staley said. “Sometimes letting them sit in their sadness is much more powerful than breaking that train of thought.”
If the Gamecocks can rebound from losing a shot at a third national title in four seasons, the road back to glory started there — somewhere around the losing locker room at Amalie Arena in the heart or mind of a budding, hurting star.
After a rough 4–point performance in the Elite Eight, Edwards bounced back in Friday’s semifinal with a double-double that helped beat Texas. It was a teachable moment for a freshman who was the 2023-24 high school national player of the year.
“I showed my resilience,” Edwards said. “I feel like I pushed through, and that was the game that showed it.”
Sunday was a different kind of learning experience. Ten points and five rebounds off the bench, but a result Edwards dreaded.
“I know what it feels like to lose,” Edwards said, “and I don’t want to be here again.”
Joyce Edwards is fired up about the future.
“We don’t want to feel this again. It makes me sick.” pic.twitter.com/6rvC0oJNbW
— Julia Westerman (@JuliaWesterman) April 7, 2025
Edwards will play a major role in whether her team gets back to this stage and leaves with a different result. She’s not the only one.
All four of Sunday’s top scorers for South Carolina are set to return: Edwards, MiLaysia Fulwiley, Chloe Kitts and Tessa Johnson. The Gamecocks’ top rebounder and draft-eligible guard Raven Johnson said in the locker room that she has already decided whether to remain at South Carolina or head to the WNBA, but she wasn’t ready to announce anything yet. (Rules dictate that Johnson has 48 hours from the end of the championship game to decide.) That leaves only three notable, guaranteed departures: all-conference guard Te-Hina Paopao and two of the SEC’s better defenders, Bree Hall and Sania Feagin.
Paopao’s message to the players she’s leaving behind?
“Soak this sucky feeling in, but you gotta come back and use this as a motivator,” Paopao said. “Come back next season and get back to where we were this year.”
Championship contention remains a reasonable expectation for Staley’s program, even after a disappointing end. But there’s plenty of work ahead.
“UConn is going to be our rivalry for the next few years, we gotta get better.”
MiLaysia Fulwiley on what UConn did well tonight int heir championship win and where South Carolina needs to improve for the future.@abc_columbia | #Gamecockspic.twitter.com/xMI6HnAiji
— Noah Chast (@NoahChastTV)
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