A'ja Wilson leads South Carolina to NCAA Championship

Posted: April 2, 2017 -- 7:53 pm CST.

DALLAS, TX (American Airlines Center) -- A'ja Wilson and Allisha Gray combined for 41 points and 20 rebounds to lead the South Carolina Gamecocks to a 67-55 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs Sunday evening in front of a sold-out crowd of 19,229 fans.

Wilson was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.

The national championship victory is the first for the Gamecocks in the history of the program.

Mississippi State led 7-1 before A'ja Wilson knocked down a jumper to kick start a 6-0 run to tie the game at 7 with 5:50 remaining in the opening 10 minutes.

The rest of the first quarter was nip and tuck; but, Doniyah Cliney and Gray each sank two free throws in the final 24 seconds to give the Gamecocks an 18-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Gray scored 5 of the Gamecocks' 7 points during a 7-2 spurt to open the second quarter to push the lead to 25-16 with 6:49 on the clock. Then, a 6-2 spurt by the Gamecocks increased the lead to 13 points (31-18) with 3:43 til halftime.

Mississippi State closed the quarter outscoring the Gamecocks 8-5 to reduce South Carolina's lead to 10 (36-26) at halftime.

Buckets by Kaela Davis and Bianca Cuevas-Moore helped increased the Gamecocks' lead to 14 -- its largest lead of the game -- 45 to 31; however, the Bulldogs refused to quit and responded with a 9-0 run to pull within 5 points (45-40).

The Gamecocks led 48-44 with 1:10 remaining in the third quarter when A'ja Wilson knocked down a  jumper to push the lead to 50-44. Then, teammate Kaela Davis knocked down a jump shot with 2 seconds remaining to give the Gamecocks a 52-44 lead after three quarters.

The Bulldogs limited the Gamecocks to two points the first three minutes of the fourth period and inched within four points (54-50) with 5:50 remaining in the game.

Then, A'ja Wilson placed her stamp on the ball game: Wilson blocked a shot on one end then nailed a short jump shot to increase the lead to 56-50. After a steal by Cliney, Allisha Gray converted a lay-up for an eight point lead which forced a Bulldogs' timeout.

After the timeout and the media timeout, State's Breanna Richardson made a jump shot; but, Gray sank a jump shot and Wilson converted two lay-ups to increase the Gamecocks' lead to 64-52 with 2:20 remaining.

Seconds later, Wilson added another lay-up to cap off her scoring with 23 points to send Gamecock Nation into a jubilant celebration.

CLICK HERE for The HRR's NCAAW write-ups.