The 2017 NCAA Division I women's basketball championship game was the final game of the

2017 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament The 2017 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament was played from Friday, March 17 to Sunday, April 2, 2017, with the Final Four played at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas on March 31 and April 2. This was the first time that t ...

. The game was played on April 2, 2017, at

American Airlines Center The American Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose List of indoor arenas, indoor arena located in the Victory Park, Dallas, Victory Park neighborhood in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena serves as the home of the Dallas Stars of the National ...

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. The

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fight ...

defeated the

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the college athletics, athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA D ...

, 67–55, to claim their first-ever national championship.

Participants

Going into the game,

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

and

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

have met 35 times in women's basketball since December 29, 1984, with the Gamecocks holding a one-game edge over the Bulldogs in

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) play. In the 2016–17 SEC regular season, South Carolina lost twice and Mississippi State three times (once to the Gamecocks). Notched as the top two seeds for the 2017 SEC tournament, the teams advanced to the championship game, where South Carolina won 59–49. In the

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

of the tournament, South Carolina defeated

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

, 62–53. In the other semifinal game, Mississippi State defeated

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

with a

buzzer beater In timed sports, a buzzer beater is a successful shot made as the clock expires at the end of a period or at the end of the game, leaving zero seconds remaining. A buzzer sounds whenever a game clock expires, hence the name "buzzer beater." In b ...

, winning 66–64, and ending Connecticut's 111-game winning streak.

Game summary

South Carolina led 36–26 at half time and extended this lead further in the beginning of the third quarter. Mississippi State then rallied, and at one point trailed by only 4 points (54–50). However, South Carolina never relinquished their lead, and held on to win, ultimately by 12 points. The South Carolina strategy was to focus on close shots, with the team only attempting three 3-pointers in the entire game.

A'ja Wilson A'ja Riyadh Wilson ( ; born August 8, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Wilson played for the South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball, South Car ...

was South Carolina's top scorer with 23 points. Mississippi State guard Morgan William, who had excelled previously in the tournament, was benched for much of the game, scoring 8 points in 23 minutes of playing time.

Media coverage

The Championship Game was televised in the United States by

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. Dave O'Brien gave the play-by-play, with

Doris Burke Doris Burke ( Sable) is an American sports announcer and analyst for ''NBA on ESPN'', ''NBA on ABC'', '' College Basketball on ESPN'', and '' College Basketball on ABC'' games. She formerly worked as an analyst for WNBA games on MSG and has wo ...

and

Kara Lawson Kara Marie Lawson (born February 14, 1981) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team. She played professionally in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) a ...

as the color analysts, and

Holly Rowe Holly Rowe (born June 16, 1966) is an American sports telecaster for the ESPN sports television network, as a sideline reporter for college football and basketball games. Rowe made Utah Jazz history on October 22, 2021 as the team's first female ...

as the sideline reporter. Maria Taylor,

Rebecca Lobo Rebecca Rose Lobo-Rushin (born October 6, 1973) is an American television basketball analyst and former professional women's basketball player in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 to 2003. Lobo, at 6'4", played the cent ...

and

Andy Landers Andrew Grady Landers (born October 8, 1952) is an American former college basketball coach who was head women's basketball coach at the Georgia Lady Bulldogs basketball, University of Georgia from 1979 to 2015. Landers graduated from Friendsvill ...

provided studio coverage.

References

{{2017 South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball navbox NCAA Division I women's basketball championship game NCAA Division I women's basketball championship games Mississippi State Bulldogs women's basketball South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball Basketball in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex College sports in Texas Sports competitions in Dallas 2010s in Dallas 2017 in Texas NCAA Division I women's basketball championship game Women's sports in Texas

Participants

Game summary

Media coverage

See also

References