By DOUG FEINBERG BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — 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 NCA A 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 March 30. “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. Now, Staley’s top-seeded Gamecocks are two wins away from becoming the first team to repeat as champions since UConn won four straight from 2013-16. South Carolina will play the winner of the Texas-TCU game that takes place March 31. The Final Four is April 4 in Tampa, Florida. Second-seeded Duke was looking to get to its first national semifinals since 2006. That team lost in overtime to Maryland in the title game. The Blue Devils women were also looking to join the men’s program in the Final Four. South Carolina (34-3) was stymied for most of the game by Duke’s stingy defense. The Gamecocks came in averaging 80.5 points, but points were difficult to come by March 30. “I thought they forced us into taking some bad shots that almost ended our season, really, especially in the first half,” Staley said. The game was tied at 46-all when Sania Feagin, who finished with 12 points, hit a jumper to put the Gamecocks ahead with 4:21 left. Kitts, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the region, added two free throws 42 seconds later to make it 50-46. Toby Fournier, who led Duke with 18 points, scored with 3:21 left to get the Blue Devils (29-8) back within two. The Blue Devils trailed 52-50 with 29.8 seconds left when South Carolina’s Bree Hall was called for an offensive foul on an inbound play, giving Duke a chance to tie or take the lead. Duke worked the clocked down before Ashlon Jackson airballed a 3-pointer from the wing with 7 seconds left. Hall got the rebound and South Carolina called timeout. “Went with the ball in Ashlon’s hands as she had been making plays for us in the fourth quarter out of the ball screen,” Duke coach Kara Lawson said. “She tried to make a play and just missed it.” Kitts was fouled with 5.7 seconds left and calmly sank both free throws to seal the win, much to the delight of a majority of the 11,252 fans in attendance who traveled to Alabama. Duke turned over the ball on the ensuing inbound play and the Gamecocks ran out the clock. “A lot of things we asked our players to do and they delivered in a big way,” Lawson said. “It wasn’t enough. Hold your head high, you competed. They competed as hard as you could. As a coach that’s all you can ask.” The Blue Devils trailed 26-22 at the half before starting the third quarter with a 16-6 run to take their first lead since the opening minutes. Fournier’s layup with 2:27 left made it 38-32. The Gamecocks trailed 42-38 heading into the fourth. This was the first time the teams had met in the postseason. Takeaways Duke >> With a young core of sophomores, the Blue Devils will look to build on this Elite Eight run. South Carolina >> The Gamecocks are now two wins away from cementing their place in women’s college basketball history. Key moment South Carolina trailed 42-38 heading into the fourth quarter before scoring the first eight points of the period. The Gamecocks never trailed after that. Key stat South Carolina has relied heavily on its bench all season, but Duke’s reserves outscored the Gamecocks’ subs 24-9. The score South Carolina 54, Duke 50 ...read more read less