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NCAA women's champ South Carolina declines White House invite

Ron Jenkins / Getty Images Sport / Getty

With reigning NCAA women's champion South Carolina focusing all of its attention on the current season, a visit with President Donald Trump at the White House just isn't in the plans.

Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley said Thursday that her team has declined an invitation for Friday when Trump hosts collegiate sports champions in Washington.

"We did hear from the White House about attending tomorrow's event, but we will not be able to attend," Staley said in a statement. "As I've been saying since our practices for this season started, all of our focus is on the season ahead. The only invitation we are thinking about is to the 2018 NCAA Tournament."

Staley's original stance back in April was that her players would attend should they receive an invitation. Come September, though, the White House had still not reached out to the Gamecocks, with Staley admitting that she and her team may not visit were they invited.

In October, Vanderbilt coach Stephanie White referred to South Carolina's lack of an invitation as a "slap in the face," and that Staley and her girls deserved to be recognized for their achievement.

South Carolina owns a 3-0 record, and will host Wofford on Sunday.

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