"Lies!": Dawn Staley slams report for twisting her words on Paige Bueckers and South Carolina narrative

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley didn't hold back on her criticism of ESPN for a headline they ran after both the Gamecocks and Paige Bueckers' UConn Huskies made the national championship game.

The coach fired back on Saturday as she shared the outlet's Women's Hoops X post saying Staley believes the storylines around Bueckers are overshadowing the Gamecocks' potential title run.

"LIES! Fix your headline please!" Staley replied on X.

Staley did address the media bias in the coverage of her players and the UConn Huskies. In the article posted by ESPN's Andrea Adelson on Saturday, she said:

"Sometimes we create these narratives about great players - Caitlin was one of them. Paige is one of them right now. And we tend to forget the narrative about what our kids have been able to do, going for their third in four years.

"There's a sentimental narrative about Paige. A great freakin' player. Anybody would start their franchise with Paige because she's a winner ... But when you put a narrative out there, everybody sees that and it puts us at a disadvantage - Whether you want to believe so or not. Officials see it. It's all over TikTok. It's all over 'SportsCenter.' It's all over all of that."

The current social media headline portrays that Dawn Staley commented on Paige Bueckers. But she had also pointed out the consistent media bias towards her team, noting that it was happening once again this year. Instead of Bueckers, her remarks were directed at the narratives outlets had been pushing.

The UConn Huskies defeated Dawn Staley and South Carolina earlier this season

UConn and South Carolina will meet once again in the national championship game. The two previously met this season on Feb. 15, where the Huskies outclassed the Gamecocks 87-58. South Carolina guard Te-Hina Paopao addressed the loss on Saturday:

"Was such an embarrassing loss for us and we knew that we're going to come back stronger and even better," she said. "We're a whole different team now and so, we've just got to showcase that tomorrow for 40 minutes."

The February loss against the Huskies was the lowest-scoring game of the season for Dawn Staley's team at the time. Connecticut did the same to UCLA in the Final Four, holding them to their lowest total of the season in an 85-51 thrashing.