The Big Lead

UCLA pulls off the upset of the year in women's basketball

By Max Weisman

South Carolina lost for the first time since the 2023 Final Four
South Carolina lost for the first time since the 2023 Final Four / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images
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It's still November, but the UCLA women's basketball team pulled off the upset of the year in women's college basketball. The No. 5 Bruins beat the No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks 77-62 on Sunday, snapping South Carolina's program record 43-game winning streak.

The 15 point loss is the largest by a No. 1 team since January 2020 and the largest loss by South Carolina since the 2019 Sweet 16 when they lost to the eventual National Champion Baylor Bears. South Carolina had started the year 5-0 after a 38-0, National Championship winning season last year.

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"It doesn't feel good when you're on the receiving end of it. But you also know you got beat by a great team, executing on both sides," South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. "That was beautiful basketball by UCLA, beautiful on both sides. I thought our kids fought. But we ran into a buzz saw today."

South Carolina survived a scare from Michigan in the first game of the season, winning by six before getting back on track with a 14-point win over No. 9 NC State. They were blowing out opponents before being upset by UCLA. Gamecocks guard Te-Hina Paopao led the team with 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting, but no other South Carolina starter scored more than four points.

The Gamecocks are in action next on Thanksgiving Day against No. 8 Iowa State in what they're hoping is a get-right game. As for UCLA, the win could elevate them to No. 1 in the country, but they'd have to leapfrog undefeated UConn and undefeated Texas. No team has a better win than the Bruins, though, and both UCLA and UConn will likely get first-place votes in the next AP Poll which should come out Monday or Tuesday.

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