Defending Champion South Carolina Returns To Final Four, Beating Duke 54-50 In March Madness

Dawn Staley took a victory lap around the court, giving high-fives to fans and South Carolina's band and even autographing the rear end of a baby's pants.

The Gamecocks' coach has her team back in a familiar place - the Final Four of the women's NCAA Tournament. This time, South Carolina had to grind out a close game to get there.

Chloe Kitts scored 14 points and the defending champion Gamecocks reached the national semifinals for a fifth straight year, beating Duke 54-50 on Sunday.

"It is not going to look pretty. It's not. There's stretches in each game that does not look pretty," Staley said. "Some of it's not going to look as smoothly as us coaches and players envision. How we practice. But you certainly have to get down and play the kind of game that's presented in front of you. We'll do that. If we're not scoring a lot of points, we'll up our defense."

South Carolina did just that.