The fourth battle between Texas and South Carolina women's basketball went a lot like two of the first three did. On Friday night in Tampa Bay, Dawn Staley's Gamecocks recovered from a rocky first quarter to crush the Longhorns 74-57 and advance to the national championship game on Sunday afternoon.

Texas led throughout the opening 10 minutes before foul trouble for Madison Booker combined with some increased intensity and tenacity from South Carolina on both ends quickly turned it into a rout coming out of halftime. The Gamecocks coasted through the final 15 minutes or so after extending their lead to walk away with a comfortable win, their third over Texas this season.

Now, Staley is back in her third national title game in the last four years with South Carolina. In her career, she is 3-0 in national championship games, which in theory would give her a lot of confidence heading into Sunday. However, she's not leaning on that experience at all before the final game of the season, via Annie Costabile of Front Office Sports.

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“I don't even bring it up,” Staley said after South Carolina's win. “Singular focus on winning the game. Nothing that happened prior to this year is gonna help us on Sunday. Nothing. It's not gonna help us against UConn, it's not gonna help us against UCLA. It's not gonna help us. I think playing in the game and seeing how the game is being played out is the only thing that's gonna help us. Saying that we're undefeated in national championship games, I wish they would spot us 10 points because we're undefeated. I would feel real good about that.”

Staley could obviously be bluffing, but there is no question that a daunting task awaits her and her South Carolina women's basketball team in the title game. Geno Auriemma — a cool 11-1 in national title games himself — and UConn blitzed top seed UCLA by 34 points in the second semifinal at the Final Four and will come into Sunday with mountains of confidence.

UConn also ended South Carolina's 71-game home winning streak earlier this season with a 29-point win in Columbia, so the Gamecocks will be seeking revenge. However, it's not going to be easy against a skilled Huskies group that is playing with a ton of bravado and brings plenty of momentum into the showpiece in Tampa. Dawn Staley has experience in this spot, but it's going to take more than that for South Carolina to get the job done.