South Carolina Suffers Lopsided Loss To UCLA In The National Championship, 79-51

Per South Carolina: PHOENIX – No. 4/4 South Carolina finished its 2025-26 season as the NCAA Runner-Up following Sunday’s 79-51 loss to No. 2/2 UCLA in the championship game a Mortgage Matchup Center.

Junior Tessa Johnson led the South Carolina offense with 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, and sophomore Joyce Edwards pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds.

The Gamecocks were in a battle from the opening tip and ceded the glass to the Bruins, who out-rebounded them 49-37, including a 29-17 edge in the first half, and finished with 25 second-chance points on 21 offensive rebounds.

South Carolina’s usually efficient offense was stymied in the first half with the Gamecocks shooting jut 16.7 percent in the opening 10 minutes to fall behind by double digits by the end of the period.

Defensively, the Gamecocks slowed the Bruins down in the second quarter, but could not overcome their early deficit.

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