Dawn Staley claims 2023 Final Four loss to Caitlin Clark left her questioning God: "I needed to know why"

Dawn Staley has been involved in some of the fiercest games in recent memory. Be it the 2024 SEC championship game against LSU, her winning streak over Geno Auriemma or five consecutive Final Four appearances.

However, one of her most devastating losses came against Caitlin Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes in the 2023 semis. The coach revealed it during an interview with "Higher Learning" on Tuesday, expressing the personal battles she had to fight after the loss.

"Not for me - for my players. Like, we had a great team, they did all the right things - great people, great competitors," Staley said. "So, I wanted them to win. I wanted them to go off with a bang. And when that didn’t happen, they were hurt and that hurt me. That hurt me to my core.

"Now, it didn’t hurt me enough to not think there was a God. But I did question - 'Hey, why? I need to know why.' He knows why."

Dawn Staley expressed that she found answers to her questions a year later. South Carolina mounted an undefeated run and defeated Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the 2024 NCAA championship game to lift its third title.

"But the answer to the why happened a year later - I can show you better than I can tell you, right? So He left me - God left me - on the why. And then followed it up and I had no words, besides "uncommon favors."

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Dawn Staley's book becomes a New York Times bestseller

It has been less than two weeks since Dawn Staley published her book "Uncommon Favor" and it is already being cleared off the shelves. On Friday, it was named a New York Times bestseller and currently sits at the No. 2 spot.

The book captures the coach's life in Philadelphia and the life lessons that she learned throughout that time which helped her establish her name in the basketball world.

Apart from being a three-time NCAA championship coach, Dawn Staley is also a former DI player. She was also a WNBA player and is a former Olympic gold medalist.