Dawn Staley, South Carolina Beat Duke to Clinch 5th Straight Final Four, Excite Fans

The home of South Carolina's women's basketball team is the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia. The Gamecocks' home away from home, however, is wherever the Final Four is being played.

Dawn Staley and her charges are off to the Final Four for a fifth straight season after defeating Duke 54-50 on Sunday behind strong performances from Sania Feagin (12 points, eight boards, three steals, two blocks) and Chloe Kitts (14 points).

It didn't come easy. In a defensive slugfest, Duke seemed to always have an answer for any South Carolina run, led by Toby Fournier's 18 points off the bench and a massive advantage on the boards (41-30).

But South Carolina's 10-0 run to end the third quarter and start the fourth put them back in the driver's seat, and a 16-8 advantage in the final frame was enough to seal the win and kill Duke's bid to return to the Final Four for the first time since 2006.

It was a battle of attrition, no doubt, but it's instead the Gamecocks who are headed to Tampa. As fans and pundits noted on social media, South Carolina in the Final Four has become an inevitability:

The Gamecocks are becoming college basketball royalty. Under Staley, South Carolina has reached the Final Four seven times and has won three titles.

On Sunday, it was the defense that sparked the victory.

South Carolina came up with 13 steals, forced 19 Duke turnovers and held the Blue Devils to just 31.7 percent shooting from the field. That was key, as Duke's massive rebounding edge led to a major disparity in shot attempts (60 for Duke to 44 for South Carolina).

Neither team blinked in a back-and-forth battle. But it was going to take something truly extraordinary to keep South Carolina from returning to their home away from home at the Final Four.