South Carolina women's basketball coach Dawn Staley and now Chicago Sky forward Kamilla Cardoso are living it up in the Big Apple.

Shortly after being at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York on Monday night to see Cardoso be drafted in the WNBA draft, the two Gamecocks were in Lower Manhattan to ring the bell to open the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

Cardoso's mom, Janete Soares, and sister, Jessica Silva, were also on hand for the moment as were South Carolina assists Lisa Boyer, Winston Gandy and Jolette Law as the NYSE celebrated the Gamecocks' 2024 national championship win over Iowa. Both Soars and Silva were in attendance last night and have been in the States from their native country Brazil since South Carolina's Senior Day back on March 3.

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South Carolina defeated Iowa 87-75 back on April 7 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland to win its second national championship title in recent years while also becoming the 10th team in NCAA women's basketball history to go undefeated for an entire season.

Shortly after ringing the bell to open up Wall Street, Staley and Cardoso joined CNBC's 'Squawk on the Street' to talk about the future of women's basketball and where the sport is going.

"We are at a point where there are more eyeballs on the game and our sport so they are seeing the disparities (and) salary disparities. But I will say the WNBA is moving in the right direction," Staley said. "We are still a very young league. A very very young league just like the NBA. The NBA didn't become what it has become in 28 years.

"... I do think our future is bright. I do think people are going to look at our sport and pour into it because they see dollar signs at the end of the day."

She added: "I hope every school treats women's basketball, women's sports like the University of South Carolina. They invest in my salary, they invest in student-athletes."

Cardoso was selected with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft by the Sky. The Brazilian forward averaged 14.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game this season.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina's Dawn Staley, Kamilla Cardoso open New York Stock Exchange