South Carolina women’s basketball team declines invitation to Trump White House

The University of South Carolina women’s basketball team is declining an invitation from President Trump to celebrate their 2017 NCAA championship win at the White House.

USC head coach Dawn Staley released a statement Thursday saying the team would not attend an event honoring NCAA champions at the White House on Friday.

“We did hear from the White House about attending tomorrow’s event, but we will not be able to attend,” Staley said. “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.”

{mosads}According to The State, the team received their invitation to the White House earlier this month after Staley told The Associated Press in September that the team was still waiting on their invite.

“We haven’t gotten an invitation yet and that in itself speaks volumes,” Staley said. “We won before those other teams won their championships. I don’t know what else has to happen.”

The Gamecocks won their NCAA title in April.

Another NCAA championship team, the University of North Carolina men’s basketball team, said in September they wouldn’t visit the White House, citing scheduling issues.

Trump hosted the Clemson Tigers, the winners of the 2016 NCAA football championship, at the White House in June.

Several NCAA championship-winning teams are set to visit the White House on Friday.