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Former U.Va. standout player Dawn Staley coaches South Carolina women to NCAA victory

4/8/2017, 9:47 a.m.
Dawn Staley, who once represented Richmond on the basketball court, ranks with the greatest players in women’s hoops history.
Dawn Staley, coach of the University of South Carolina women’s basketball team and a former University of Virginia basketball star, waves the freshly cut net to celebrate her team’s NCAA championship victory Sunday over Mississippi State University. L.M. Otero/Associated Press

University of South Carolina forward A’ja Wilson holds the NCAA championship trophy aloft after the team’s 67-55 victory in Dallas.

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

University of South Carolina forward A’ja Wilson holds the NCAA championship trophy aloft after the team’s 67-55 victory in Dallas.

Dawn Staley, who once represented Richmond on the basketball court, ranks with the greatest players in women’s hoops history.

Now she’s making history as a coach, too.

The former University of Virginia star guided the University of South Carolina to its first NCAA Division I women’s title with a 67-55 win over Mississippi State University last Saturday in Dallas.

The 46-year-old Staley becomes just the second African-American head coach to claim the NCAA women’s title.

The first was Carolyn Peck, who coached Purdue University to the title in 1999.

A three-time All-American, Staley led U.Va. to three Final Fours as a player, but the Cavaliers never won the championship. In 1996, she spurred the U.S. Olympic team to the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Staley was a WNBA first round draft pick in 1999 and was a six-time All-Star with the Charlotte Sting and the Houston Comets.

During the 1996-97 season, Staley played for the Richmond Rage of the now defunct American Basketball League.

The Richmond Rage, which was 21-19 in 1996-97, split home games between the Richmond Coliseum and the Robins Center at the University of Richmond. In 1997-98, the team moved to Philadelphia.

As a college coach, Staley has compiled a 393-160 record at Temple University and now the University of South Carolina, where she has been head coach since 2008.

Her last three editions of the Gamecocks have gone 34-3 in 2015, 33-2 in 2016 and 33-4 this season.