Whereas, on April 2, 2017, at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, the University of South Carolina Gamecocks won the national title game for the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Women's Basketball Tournament over the Mississippi State Bulldogs by a score of 67 to 55; Whereas the University of South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team won the 2017 Southeastern Conference championship; Whereas the University of South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team head coach Dawn Staley, a 3-time Olympian who was elected to carry the United States flag at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics, was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013, and is the new head coach of the United States women's national basketball team, joins Carolyn Peck as the only 2 African-American female head coaches to lead a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I basketball team to a national title; Whereas this is the first National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Women's Basketball Tournament Championship for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team, who finished the season with 33 wins and 4 losses; Whereas A'ja Wilson, who is from Columbia, South Carolina, and an alumna of Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, was named Southeastern Conference player of the year and the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Women's Basketball Tournament Championship most valuable player; Whereas the University of South Carolina has been a leader on the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll for last 10 years; Whereas, each year, University of South Carolina student-athletes support approximately 100 events and organizations for a total of more than 5,000 hours of service; Whereas A'ja Wilson received First Team All-America recognition from the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, and senior center Alaina Coates earned an All-America honorable mention