The long-awaited statue of South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley was unveiled Wednesday afternoon near downtown Columbia. The statue, which is 14 feet tall, made of bronze and weighs nearly 2,000 pounds, depicts a smiling Staley on a ladder holding a basketball net, as if she’d just cut it down after winning a national championship.

Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma have enjoyed their fair share of clashes over the years. Most have occurred on the court - as two of the most successful coaches of their (or any) era, Staley and Auriemma's sides have faced off more times than most in recent seasons.

The honor for the North Philadelphia native was first announced in February of last year, with Staley revealing at the time that “it wasn’t anything that I politicked for.”