As sports editors in South Carolina, we have a really fun job.
Every year, we get to watch our state dominate on a national level. We curate headlines that celebrate and surprise the citizens and fans of our state sports scene. And while this department’s leadership is new to our roles, as longtime South Carolinians, we both relish the opportunity to share news that defines a cycle.
For us in new roles, this experience is a little new. But for South Carolina, this level of excellence in sports is a tale as old as time.
In a larger historical context and from a bird’s-eye view, 2024 may look like another notch in the timeline. After all, South Carolina has always been dominant in the national sports conversation.
But undeniably, there were shifts. Clemson’s trophy case has been dusted, but not polished. The state is set up to breed tennis success, but a new star has set a new bar. The Gamecocks football program has been, in a word, reborn. And area high school programs have turned over new leaves and started writing new legacies.
The Post and Courier had the privilege of publishing some incredibly special headlines in a historic 2024 sports year. Here are your editors picks of the brightest:
No. 1: USC women’s hoops wins third national title
South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley raises her arms after South Carolina wins the NCAA basketball title, Sunday, April 7, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Women’s basketball had an advent that began during COVID — the smaller WNBA was able to play games when the larger leagues were unable. It’s no surprise that as interest flourished in the majors, so too did it at the collegiate level. And with players like Caitlin Clark redefining excellence for women athletes, a record number of eyes were tuned into the women’s NCAA Tournament in 2024.
But even Clark and her Iowa Hawkeyes were no match for Dawn Staley’s team of glory in 2024, as the Gamecocks became only the 10th-ever Division I team to complete an undefeated season, capped off with an 87-75 win over Iowa in the NCAA national championship.
After losing all five of their starters from a 2023 squad, defeated by Clark in the semifinals, an explosive Kamilla Cardoso (15 points, 17 rebounds) led the program to its third national championship victory. Cardoso was selected third overall in the WNBA draft, and Staley claimed the Naismith Coach of the Year award for the fourth time.
No. 2: Gamecocks recover, escape rivals
LaNorris Sellers joined the exclusive fraternity of USC quarterbacks that beat Clemson, and an even more-exclusive chapter of QBs that did it on the road.
South Carolina’s football team stumbled to a 5-7 season in 2023 and was off to a mediocre 3-3 start under coach Shane Beamer after dropping a heartbreaking 27-25 decision to Alabama.
Then something happened. Days later, USC team leaders collectively told the fourth-year coach five words that shaped the rest of the season.
“We’re going to win out.”
The Gamecocks ripped off a six-game winning streak, capping the regular season with a thrilling 17-14 rivalry win at Clemson. Electric freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers gave the Gamecocks the lead on a 20-yard touchdown run with just 1:08 to play.
Clemson had one last chance, driving quickly to the USC 18 with 16 seconds to play and within range of a tying field goal. But South Carolina’s Demetrius Knight Jr. intercepted Cade Klubnik to seal the Gamecocks’ second straight win at Death Valley.
No. 3: Clemson ACC champions
Clemson cornerback Avieon Terrell (20) reacts after breaking up a pass during the Atlantic Coast Conference championship NCAA college football game between Clemson and SMU Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C.
While dejected from the rivalry loss, Clemson received quite the consolation prize a few hours later when Miami was upset in its season finale, sending the Tigers to the ACC championship game instead against SMU.
The Tigers came down to the wire again, but this time they came through as Nolan Hauser booted a 56-yard field goal as time expired to give Clemson a 34-31 win over the Mustangs and lift coach Dabo Swinney’s team into the College Football Playoffs for the sixth time.
The ACC championship game win was the second in three seasons and eighth of the last 10 as the Tigers continued their conference dominance.
Clemson wound up as the No. 12 seed in the CFP, its first playoff trip since the 2020 season, before losing 38-24 to No. 5 seed Texas.
No. 4: Emma Navarro sets a new bar
Charleston’s Emma Navarro returns a shot to Aryna Sabalenka during the women’s singles semifinals of the U.S. Open on Sept. 5, 2024, in New York.
Until 2024, Emma Navarro might have been South Carolina’s best-kept sports secret. Now, the word is out. A new hometown hero, the New York-born Navarro won her first WTA title in Australia in January, clinched a berth on Team USA in the Paris Olympics, fought to the quarterfinal at Wimbledon, and pushed to the semis on U.S. soil at Arthur Ashe Stadium in September.
Currently ranked No. 8 on the tour, Navarro’s second pro year cemented her as the pride of S.C. in tennis. The WTA awarded her the 2024 Most Improved Player of the Year.
No. 5: Clemson’s battle with ACC
In March, Clemson filed suit against the embattled Atlantic Coast Conference, kicking off a legal effort to break free. Alongside Florida State, the two schools were in disagreement with the league over a grant-of-rights agreement that allegedly ties schools’ media revenues to the ACC through 2036.
Clemson asserted the ACC’s $140 million exit penalty is “unconscionable” and the university should retain its broadcast rights if it were to join another league.
Now the ACC might be willing to work toward a settlement where Clemson and FSU stay in the league with a new revenue-sharing plan.
Honorable mentions
• Clemson men’s basketball reached the Elite 8 for only the second time in school history.
• World’s No. 1 Scottie Scheffler became the second-ever golfer to win the RBC Heritage on HHI just a week after winning the Masters.
• Oceanside Collegiate and Pinewood Prep won state football championships, Oceanside overcoming reclassification and in-season coaching changes, and Pinewood thriving its way to the pinnacle for the first time since 2015.
• Shelby Rogers retired from WTA Tour after a career that included wins over Serena Williams and then-No. 1 Ashleigh Barty.
• Major action in minor leagues: Player of the Year Nick Markanich set a USL Championship record for goals scored, the Battery and the Riverdogs reached league semifinals. And, as soccer interest grows statewide, the EPL played a friendly at Patriots Point.
• Summerville baseball faced controversy as the Green Wave forfeited the Lower State title series win against Ashley Ridge.
• Local talent represented S.C. in the majors, as Summerville High School’s PJ Morlando was drafted No. 16 overall by the Marlins in the first round of the MLB draft, and Clemson (Nate Wiggins to Baltimore at No. 30) and USC (Xavier Legette to Carolina at No. 32) players were selected in the first round of the NFL draft.
• CofC men’s hoops made the NCAA Tournament, and now Chris Mack has the Cougars off to a 10-3 start this season as new head coach.
• Lowcountry high schools (Wando, Lucy Beckham, Oceanside, Bishop England, Academic Magnet) swept tennis state championships.
• Ali Abdilmana of Ethiopia won the Cooper River Bridge Run by 1 second in event’s fourth-fastest time ever.
• Myrtle Beach hosted its first-ever PGA Tour event with the Myrtle Beach Classic, the first pro golf tournament on the Grand Strand in 24 years.