Posted 03/31/17, 9:04 PM | By: Anthony  Mazur

DALLAS (AM News Net)  – For the 13th time in NCAA history, a team has sent both of its basketball teams to the Final Four. South Carolina now has its men's and women's basketball teams tipping off in a historic appearance in the Final Four and Women's Final Four in the same season.

Returning to the Women's Final Four for the second time in three seasons, the South Carolina Gamecocks faced off against the Stanford Cardinals, who have returned for a thirteenth time to the national championship, on Friday night. Stanford has defeated South Carolina in all past appearances, the last of which was in the 2012-2013 season.

"[The Gamecocks] run well," Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said before the game in a media teleconference. "I think they're a very well-coached team. They rebound, they're an elite rebounding team. You have a low block presence, a great rebounding team, you have people that are moving the ball. They're fantastic one-on-one players."

The Cardinals, whose success is credited to senior leadership by VanDerveer, have constantly been working to improve throughout the season. 

"This is not a start-studded team," VanDerveer said. "We have players that are really good at certain things, and they've got to do those things. But they understand their role, and they embrace their role. The unselfishness, just the team cohesiveness is something that you can't teach and you can't coach. It kind of has happened."

However, that all changed after the Cardinals dropped a first-half lead, allowing the Gamecocks to survive and advance with a 62-53 victory. The Cardinals led 29-20 into the half, but fell apart after halftime.

"We never got it going in the third quarter, and that's disappointing for us," Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said.

Alisha Gray from South Carolina led in field goals, with seven completed and 14 attempts. Gamecock offense picked up after halftime to deliver the victory, with more points scored each in the third and fourth quarter than the first and second combined.

"We needed to get into halftime to calm and exhale a bit," South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said.

The break worked, and the Gamecocks will play the winners of the UConn/Mississippi State game.

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