Dawn Staley Wants To Move Past Final Four Spat With Geno Auriemma

Dawn Staley is looking to officially put her incident with Geno Auriemma behind her ... saying the two have talked since their spat at the Final Four -- and it's time "to move forward and close the chapter on how our semifinal game with UConn ended."

Staley released her statement through the Gamecocks' social media page on Tuesday, saying despite how it seemed on the court over the weekend, she has "a great deal of respect for him and what he's meant to this game."

"One moment doesn't define a career, and it doesn't change the impact he's had on growing women's basketball. The standard at UConn is what it is because of him, and that's something this game has benefited from."

If you missed it, Staley and Auriemma got into a heated exchange in the final seconds of South Carolina's win over UConn to punch its ticket to the National Championship. It was unclear what led to things boiling over, but officials had to step in to de-escalate the situation.

A day later, the longtime head coach of the Huskies released a statement apologizing for his actions, saying "it was uncalled for in how I reacted."

"The story should be how well South Carolina played, and I don't want my actions to detract from that."

Staley wrapped up her own statement by asking everyone to turn the page on what happened and to focus on the growth of women's basketball.

"That's always been my mission, and it's not changing."