PHOENIX — One of the first things South Carolina saw every morning during the offseason was the score of its national championship loss to UConn a year ago.

Molly Binetti, South Carolina’s women’s basketball sports performance coach, had the score up on the TVs in the weight room by 6 a.m. every day, so the Gamecocks would never forget that feeling. It was shown so much that even newcomers like Ta’Niya Latson began to feel the pain.

“We saw that in our faces, so even though I didn’t experience that, I had to take on that because I knew that it was just more than just myself,” Latson said. “It was for the program, for the team and for the coaches.”

Well, in Friday’s national semifinal, the Gamecocks finally got their revenge. South Carolina beat UConn 62-48 to make its third straight national championship game and fourth in five years. As the final seconds were ticking off, UConn coach Geno Auriemma walked up to South Carolina coach Dawn Staley and the two exchanged words. Assistant coaches got between them and moved Auriemma away. He walked off the floor after the game and did not go through the handshake line with Staley or anybody from South Carolina, instead leaving for the locker room before any of players or coaches.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley and UConn coach Geno Auriemma exchange words near the end of their game on Friday. (Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

After all of the drama, the Gamecocks are heading back to the championship game and will play the winner of No. 1 UCLA and No. 1 Texas on Sunday.

The Gamecocks pulled the upset over top-seeded UConn by stifling a Huskies’ offense that has been scoring at will this season.

UConn averaged 87 points per game this season, led by player of the year Sarah Strong, but couldn’t get much going against South Carolina’s aggressive and physical defense.

Strong scored just 11 points. All-American Azzi Fudd had just 8 points and shot 3 of 15 from the field, and the entire Huskies’ offense shot just 31 percent from the field.

South Carolina didn’t shoot much better, just 37 percent from the field, but the Gamecocks’ defensive versatility gave UConn issues throughout the game. It’s why even after making just four shots in the second quarter, the Gamecocks were trailing by only two points at halftime.

The third quarter changed the game for South Carolina, though. Though their defensive intensity continued, holding UConn to just 29 percent shooting, its offense woke up.

The Gamecocks shot 46 percent from the field in the third quarter and made 8 of 10 free throws to take a 10-point lead with three minutes left in the quarter.

Facing its largest deficit of the season, UConn answered with back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers, but as it did throughout the game, South Carolina answered with a run of its own. The Gamecocks scored four straight to take a five-point lead into the quarter break. The frustration turned into a quarter-break rant from Auriemma.

“There were six fouls called that quarter, all of them against us. And they’ve been beating the s–t out of our guys down there the entire game,” he said during an in-game interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “And I’m not making excuses because we haven’t been able to make a shot. But this is ridiculous. Their coach ran some rage on the sideline and called the referees some names you don’t want to hear. And now we get 6 to 0, and I got a kid with a ripped jersey. And they go, ‘I didn’t see it.’ C’mon man, this is the national championship.”

It was unclear whether a South Carolina player had made an initial tera on Strong’s jersey, but after a pause in action following her missed shot, she tore the jersey from the neckline. After the game, Strong said she ripped her jersey “by accident.” She changed jerseys on the sideline. Auriemma said after the game that he was frustrated with the lack of fouls on South Carolina players defending Strong.

South Carolina never let UConn back into the game in the fourth quarter. Instead it pulled away in the final minutes and got its revenge after last season.