The South Carolina Gamecocks and Connecticut Huskies will meet in the national championship game after cruising to victories to tip off the women’s Final Four on Friday night.
The defending-champion Gamecocks trailed early but came back to dominate the Texas Longhorns 74-57 in the first of two semifinal games in Tampa.
The Longhorns came out of the gate hot, taking a 12-4 lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter. SEC Player of the Year Madison Booker looked like she was primed to lead an upset, scoring six points in the game’s first 10 minutes.
But South Carolina dominated the rest of the way, outscoring Texas 20-16, 20-9 and 16-13 in the second, third, and fourth quarters, respectively.
Offensively, the Gamecocks were balanced, with 10 different players getting into the scoring column. They were led by senior guard Te-Hina Paopao, who scored 14 points. Freshman forward Joyce Edwards also added 13 off the bench.
Defensively was where South Carolina shined. The Longhorns could only manage to shoot 39.3% from the field, and turned the ball over 14 times. Booker ultimately had a forgettable game after her hot start, finishing with 11 points, 1 rebound and no assists.
The Gamecocks are now headed to the national championship game for the third time in four seasons. Head coach Dawn Staley will be looking for her fourth title since 2017.
Awaiting South Carolina in the title game will be the Huskies, who lost to the Gamecocks in the 2022 final.
Connecticut absolutely dominated the UCLA Bruins on Friday, winning 85-51 in an impressive performance on both ends of the floor.
Starting out the game with a zone look, the Huskies flummoxed the Bruins defensively. Center Lauren Betts was the only UCLA player to score in double digits, finishing with 26 points. As a team, the Bruins shot only 38.5% from the floor and turned the ball over 19 times.
The bullying continued on the offensive end, where several Connecticut players had a big night.
Senior guard Azzi Fudd was on fire, scoring 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting. She was aided greatly by freshman forward Sarah Strong, who added 22 points of her own. The Huskies dominated despite a relatively quiet night by senior guard Paige Bueckers, who only needed to add 16 points in the big win.
UCLA never looked comfortable on either end of the floor, unable to match Connecticut’s intensity. It was a disappointing end to the season for a Bruins squad that didn’t lose to any team not named the USC Trojans in the regular season.
The Huskies will now head to their first championship game in three years, when they lost 64-49 to South Carolina. Connecticut has not won a national title since 2016.
The Huskies are headed to the national championship game!
What a dominant performance by Connecticut, which was all over the Bruins from the opening tip.
Sarah Strong led the Huskies with 22 points, while Azzi Fudd had 19 and Paige Bueckers added 16.
Lauren Betts led all scorers with 26 points, but she was the only UCLA player in double figures.
UConn will face South Carolina for the national championship at 3 p.m. ET Monday.
The Huskies have dominated this game since the opening tip and are now only one quarter away from making it to the national championship game.
Connecticut has absolutely blitzed the Bruins defensively, who look like they weren’t ready for the intensity of tonight’s game.
Azzi Fudd is leading the Huskies with 19 points, while Sarah Strong and Paige Bueckers have 18 and 12, respectively.
Lauren Betts is the only UCLA player in double digits with 17 points.
Three different Huskies — Paige Buckers, Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong — all have at least 10 points midway through the third quarter.
More of the same to start the second half, as UConn has pushed its lead to 50-28 with 4:54 left in the third quarter.
The Bruins are shooting only 37.5% and also have 16 turnovers.
Meanwhile, three players have scored in double digits for the Huskies, compared to only one — Lauren Betts — for UCLA.
The Huskies are absolutely dominating on both ends tonight.
They are shooting 48.6% from the field offensively, including 5-of-13 from 3-point range.
Defensively, UConn has held the Bruins to 41.7% from the field while forcing 14 turnovers.
Azzi Fudd has been the best player on the floor, scoring 19 points for the Huskies. Paige Bueckers has 6 while Sarah Strong has 8.
Lauren Betts has 11 points for UCLA, but only three other players have scored, and nobody more than 5 points. The Bruins have looked lost offensively, stymied by the Huskies’ zone defense.
All the talk of stardom this week (rightfully) went to Paige Bueckers, but her backcourt mate Azzi Fudd has been carrying UConn so far. With one minute to play before halftime she has 19 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field.
A little over five minutes into the second quarter and Connecticut leads 29-17.
While both offenses have cooled after the first, the Bruins in particular are struggling. The Huskies have been flying around the floor, forcing 10 turnovers, while allowing only eight field goals.
Azzi Fudd and Lauren Betts each have 11 points, but Betts will need some teammates to step up if UCLA is going to get back into this game.
National player of the year JuJu Watkins, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, was shown appreciation at the Final Four.
The Huskies lead 23-13 after one quarter.
Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd combined for 15 of UConn’s 23 points. The Huskies are shooting a blistering 55.6% from the field.
The Bruins shot 50% themselves, but were hampered by six turnovers. Center Lauren Betts leads UCLA with 7 points.
Connecticut leads UCLA 15-10 with 3:05 left in the first quarter.
Sarah Strong has 5 points to lead the Huskies, while Lauren Betts has 4 to pace the Bruins.
UCLA has been sloppy with the ball so far, already committing five turnovers compared to Connecticut’s one.
Azzi Fudd started the scoring with a transition bucket to give UConn a 2-0 lead and the second national semifinal is off!
South Carolina freshman Joyce Edwards stepped into a program with national-title expectations this season and hasn’t disappointed, leading the top-seeded Gamecocks in scoring despite coming off the bench.
In Friday’s Final Four win over Texas, Edwards continued to star with 13 points and 11 rebounds. For all of her teammates who have been on this stage before and understand the pressure that comes with playing for a national title, it was the freshman Edwards who looked undaunted all night while becoming the first South Carolina freshman to produce a double-double in an NCAA tournament game since 2014.
The Gamecocks are headed to the national championship!
South Carolina will have a chance to repeat after dismantling Texas on Friday. The Longhorns got off to a hot start, but it wasn’t enough against a deep, balanced Gamecocks team that was suffocating defensively.
South Carolina now has a chance to win its third title in four seasons.
South Carolina will have the opportunity to defend its national title.
By beating Texas tonight in a national semifinal, the Gamecocks will attempt to become the first repeat national champion in Division I women’s basketball since Connecticut won four straight from 2013-16. Dawn Staley’s team improved to 3-1 this season against Texas and will now await the winner of Connecticut and UCLA’s semifinal later tonight.
Early into the fourth quarter and Texas needs to work much harder to cut into South Carolina’s lead.
The Gamecocks are still up 61-48 with only 7:10 remaining. Madison Booker started strong with six points in the first quarter, but she’s scored only five since then.
We wrote earlier about how rarely Texas shoots three-pointers. It’s an offense that has worked for the Longhorns this season, but does leave them vulnerable if they’re trailing late and need a flurry of points. With 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and trailing by 13, Texas has shot 3-of-8 on three-pointers, while South Carolina’s Te-Hina Paopao has shot 3-of-4 from deep all by herself.
South Carolina began wearing on Texas in the third quarter.
After leading by only three points at halftime, the Gamecocks pushed their lead to 58-44 headed into the fourth.
The Longhorns shot over 50% in the first half but struggled in the third. While Madison Booker and Jordan Lee have combined for 24 points, they need more help. Outside of their top two scorers, the Longhorns are shooting only 22.3% from the floor.
Credit to the ESPN broadcast for digging up this remarkable statistic revealing South Carolina’s dominance. The Gamecocks have won 108 consecutive games when they lead at some point by 10-plus points. That’s an ominous sign for Texas, as the Longhorns now trail, 54-41, with 1:53 left in the third quarter.
Former South Carolina star and WNBA most valuable player A’ja Wilson is in attendance tonight but none of the Gamecocks players are wearing her signature shoe. That’s because South Carolina is an Under Armour-sponsored school, while Wilson is a Nike endorser. Instead, Texas players are wearing Wilson’s signature look tonight. Either way, Wilson can’t lose.
South Carolina increased its lead from 38-35 to 43-37 with 8:25 left in the third quarter.
The Longhorns, in an attempt to protect Madison Booker, have gone to a zone defensively to start the second half, but it’s left holes in their defense.
Because South Carolina won two of its three matchups against Texas by double digits, there was a fear the Gamecocks would roll and leave little suspense in the night’s first semifinal. Instead, it’s been an entertaining first half — the highest-scoring first half in this matchup on the season — with Texas trailing by only three points despite Madison Booker spending much of the half on the bench.
Both teams have 10 turnovers, but both have bounced back from that sloppiness in stretches, as well. Of note: South Carolina has won 103 consecutive games when leading at halftime.
South Carolina has a three-point lead after two quarters.
The biggest story of this game is Madison Booker’s foul trouble. Texas is a minus-11 with Booker on the bench, where she’s been planted for much of the first half. Booker picked up two fouls seven minutes into the game, and then her third late in the second.
Joyce Edwards has been great for the Gamecocks, with 8 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists off the bench.
Both teams are shooting over 50% from the field, and each has 10 turnovers.
For the first time in her career, Madison Booker picked up three fouls in the first half. Her third came with 2:29 left in the second quarter.
The Gamecocks have rebounded from a poor start and we have a neck-and-neck game in the second quarter.
With Madison Booker on the bench with foul trouble, South Carolina pulled ahead 27-26 with 5:01 left in the second quarter. Booker finally checked back in at that time, however, and the Longhorns went back up on their next possession.
Texas leads 28-27 with 4:33 left in the second.
This is the third time Longhorns coach Vic Shaefer is coaching in a national semifinal, after leading Mississippi State to consecutive NCAA title games in 2017 and 2018. It’s not all that unexpected that he would have his team prepared for a stage that Texas players have never been on. Familiarity also plays a role; this is the fourth meeting between these teams, with South Carolia holding a 2-1 edge.
An entertaining, fast-paced first quarter to tip off the women’s Final Four.
The Longhorns raced out to a 10-2 start, but the Gamecocks closed the quarter strong, and Texas’s lead is a now a slim 19-18 headed into the second.
Longhorns star Madison Booker had six points in the first, but also picked up two fouls.
South Carolina was led in scoring by Joyce Edwards, who came off the bench with six points on her own.
Both teams were a little sloppy with the ball to start the game, combining for 11 turnovers in the opening quarter.
Since its starters opened the game struggling to hold onto the ball, South Carolina’s reserves have come in and already scored 12 of its 18 points. This is a bounce-back performance after its nation-leading bench mustered only nine points in the Elite Eight win against Duke.
Longhorns star and SEC Player of the Year Madison Booker just picked up her second foul with a little over three minutes to go in the first.
Booker checked out with six early points. Both fouls were avoidable — Booker can’t keep picking up cheap ones as this game goes on.
Texas has already forced four turnovers from South Carolina, disrupting both in the halfcourt and in transition. Turnovers are one of the Gamecocks’ few below-par areas this season. They average about 15 per game, which ranks 40th in the country.
The Longhorns have looked sharp so far, taking a 12-4 lead with 4:52 to go in the first quarter.
Texas started the game on a 10-2 run before the teams traded a couple buckets.
Longhorns guard Madison Booker, who has had some struggles against the Gamecocks this season, has six points in the first five minutes and change.
South Carolina has already turned the ball over four times.
Texas won the opening tip and the women’s Final Four is underway! Taylor Jones was fouled on an offensive rebound on the opening possession and hit two free throws to give the Longhorns a very early lead.
South Carolina leads all of Division I this season by scoring 40 points per game off the bench. That’s an incredible 9 points per game more than the second-ranked team. When Gamecocks reserves scored 66 points combined in their tournament-opening win over 16th-seeded Tennessee Tech last month, it was the most scored by a bench since 2000. In fact, the team’s two leading scorers, Joyce Edwards (12.7 points per game) and MiLaysia Fulwiley (11.9 points), don’t start.
The Longhorns take 10 3-pointers per game, and only two teams attempted fewer this season in the entire country. That formula has worked just fine to this point. But against a superior team like South Carolina, it could be asking a lot to score against the Gamecocks’ defense.
Much of that responsibility will fall to SEC player of the year and Texas wing Madison Booker. South Carolina is 2-1 against Texas this season, with its wins coming by an average of 18 points.
The 6-foot-7 center is the national defensive player of the year because she can not only guard post players, but also stifle wings, averaging 3.5 blocks during the NCAA tournament. Oh, and she’s putting up 23 points and nearly 10 rebounds per night in the tournament, as well. How UCLA strategizes to maximize Betts, and Connecticut its own Paige Bueckers, will be must-watch TV.
This is a question that has been asked of the women’s game more than the men’s because of the concentrated dominance of a small handful of programs since the 1980s. To me, the long-standing, even predictable, success of programs including Tennessee, Connecticut and South Carolina makes a breakthrough tournament run from an outsider program such as a Notre Dame, Mississippi State, Arizona or Iowa even more memorable.
Dynasties aren’t a bad thing; they create strong storylines, especially when they are toppled. This year, that fresh contender is UCLA, which despite being a No. 1 seed isn’t a traditional blue blood, making its first Final Four.
Bueckers has had a roller-coaster collegiate career, essentially having two seasons (one partially, one entirely) ruined by injury. In her senior go-around with the Huskies, she’s remained a talented and efficient scorer while also being the playmaker her team desperately needs.
Bueckers and UConn have been in the Final Four each of the last two years (and four out of the last five seasons) but the program hasn’t won a championship since 2016. Bueckers returning the Huskies to glory would be an incredibly satisfying story.
Entering this Final Four, Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma has won 11 national championships, a record for NCAA women’s basketball, and three more than second-place Pat Summitt’s eight with Tennessee.
But ever since the Huskies’ last title in 2016, South Carolina has taken over as one of the premier programs in the country, winning three national championships for coach Dawn Staley. The Gamecocks are back in the Final Four again this year, and should Staley win again, she will join former Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer and Kim Mulkey, who has won titles at Baylor and LSU, in the four-title club.