Dawn Staley signs baby after South Carolina clinches Final Four berth

Dawn Staley gave some time to one of her newest fans after leading South Carolina to the Final Four on Sunday. The Gamecocks coach was pictured autographing a baby after a 54-50 victory in the Elite Eight to punch her team’s ticket.

It marks the fifth straight season that South Carolina has reached the Final Four, winning two of the past four national championships. However, it likely be the first one that the baby that Staley signed Sunday is alive to see, perhaps some extra motivation for the Gamecocks to win a third.

South Carolina entered the fourth quarter of Sunday’s contest trailing 42-38. The Gamecocks opened on an 8-0 to start the final quarter and retake the lead, but Duke didn’t go away.

It was just a two-point game with 58 seconds remaining after the Blue Devils hit a layup to cut the deficit to one possession. But that would be the last bucket they scored all afternoon as they were forced to foul Chloe Kitts, who made both free throws to seal the victory.

Kitts finished the game with 14 points to lead South Carolina and was named the MVP of the region for the tournament. Sania Fegin chipped in 12 points to go along with eight rebounds and three assists.

Dawn Staley has been the coach of the Gamecocks for the past 17 seasons, leading them to a 473-109 record in that span. She has lost a total of six games across the past four years, though half of those have come in the 2024-25 season.

Still, South Carolina has three national titles while under her direction and has the second-best odds to do so again this season as of this writing according to FanDuel. With two title in the past three years, she spoke before the tournament on the opportunity for the 2021 recruiting class to win three championships during their time in Columbia.

“I think it’s super cool,” she said. “I never really thought about it – I didn’t until you asked the question – because we stay present. But to think about them being able to do something that no other class has ever done, it would be them because I do believe that this class sacrificed the most of all of them.

“Because of their sacrifice, they put us in the position to make history. I love this class for that. …They are winners through and through. I don’t think there is another class within the past, I don’t know, ten years, maybe eight – I’ll go eight – that’s won two national championships, let alone three, or the possibility of winning three.”

The Gamecocks will have to beat the winner between TCU and Texas, which are set to play Monday, to get there. That game is set for Friday, April 4, in Tampa.

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