S. Carolina’s Dawn Staley takes issue with complaint by UConn’s Geno Auriemma
The Huskies coach criticized the physical play by the Gamecocks on Sunday. Philly's Staley fired back.
There’s a bit of a beef between a pair of Philly women’s basketball coaching legends.
After Sunday’s 81-77 loss to No. 1 South Carolina in Hartford, Conn., Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown and attended the now-defunct Bishop Kenrick High and West Chester University, criticized the officiating, saying guard Lou Lopez-Sénéchal had bruises following the game.
“It’s just appalling what teams do to her now,” he said, according to ESPN. “It’s not basketball anymore. I don’t know what it is, but it’s not basketball.”
Then in her radio show Tuesday night, Philly’s Dawn Staley responded to Auriemma’s comments and defended her players, saying “they play the right way.”
» READ MORE: Is Philly a women’s basketball city? The WNBA wants to know before it expands here.
“We’ve been called so many things, and I’m sick of it,” Staley said. “I’m sick of it because I coach some of the best human beings the game has ever had.”
Staley, who graduated from Dobbins Tech, is among the strongest advocates for women’s basketball in her hometown, and even played professionally for the short-lived Philadelphia Rage.
The No. 4 Huskies (21-3) and Gamecocks (23-0) have clashed in several high-profile games in recent years, including last season’s national championship game, which South Carolina won, 64-49. South Carolina has won three in a row against UConn and four of the last five, but UConn won eight in a row from 2007-19 before that and holds a 9-4 advantage in the series. UConn next faces Marquette at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Milwaukee, while South Carolina plays Auburn at 8 p.m. Thursday on the road.
“We don’t denounce anybody’s play,” Staley said. “They are always uplifting the game of women’s basketball, and when we were getting our heads beat in by UConn for all those years, I said nothing.”