It has been a long time since the South Carolina women’s basketball team has lost a game.
Entering Sunday’s game against No. 5 UCLA it had been 43 games to be exact, a streak that went all the way back to the Final Four in the 2022-23 season when they lost to Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in the national semifinal.
That winning streak came to an emphatic end on Sunday in a 77-62 loss to UCLA, handing Dawn Staley’s team its first loss of the 2024-25 season.
UCLA stormed out of the gate and carried a commanding 43-22 lead into halftime, and while South Carolina was able to close the gap a little bit in the second half it was never able to really get close.
UCLA’s Londynn James came off the bench to score a game-high 15 points in the win, while five different Bruins players reached double-digits. That includes Lauren Betts who finished the game with a double-double, scoring 11 points and collecting a game-high 14 rebounds.
James was also a perfect 5-on-5 on three-point shots, while the rest of the Bruins were just 5-for-16 from beyond the arc.
UCLA is one of the best teams in the country has been in back-to-back Sweet 16s, and this is a big statement win and resume builder early in this season to go along with a big season-opening win against then-No. 17 Louisville.
As for South Carolina, as stunning as it might be the Gamecocks were going to lose at some point, especially after a 43-game streak that also spanned the entire 2023-24 season. After losing in the Final Four in 2022-23, the Gamecocks responded by running the table a year ago on their way to their third national championship under Staley.
Entering Sunday’s game they were 5-0 and had won three consecutive games by at least 30 points.
UCLA was their first major test of the season, and it did not go well.
