Dawn Staley praises local reporters following National Championship Game

While the South Carolina women’s basketball team lost to UConn and fell short of repeating as national champions on Sunday, coach Dawn Staley found time to express her gratitude to a group of people who spent a lot of time around her team — the media. Specifically, the local media.

While talking to a group of local reporters after the game, Staley made a point to express her gratitude for how the Gamecocks are covered.

“I’ll leave on this note — this is our local media,” she said, H/T Julia Westerman, WIS 10 in Columbia. “And you all have followed us, throughout the season. And a lot of times people ask for me to do things on a national scale — and I say no a lot. Because they don’t really know our team. You guys know our team. And you cover us really well. You cover us so much that we know that, you’re not supposed to be fans of ours but you are. And you’re pretty fair with how you assess our basketball team.”

Dawn Staley closes out her final gaggle of the tournament thanking the local media.

“You guys know our team… you’re pretty fair with how you assess our basketball team. If every program had this, we could push women’s basketball forward on a local level across the country.” pic.twitter.com/TWG0oPdGlT

— Julia Westerman (@JuliaWesterman) April 6, 2025

Staley also stated that if more teams had similar local coverage, the sport of women’s basketball would grow even more.

“So I really, really, really, really appreciate all you all. Just the coverage that you give us, the support that you give us — through the media. If every program had this, we could push women’s basketball forward on a local level across the country. So, I really appreciate it.