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The Huskies, a No. 2 seed, earned their 14th consecutive Final
Four berth with a 91-87 double-overtime victory over top-seeded
North Carolina State in the regional final in Bridgeport, Conn.
-- just 75 miles from UConn's campus.
The other three teams for the Final Four at Minneapolis -- South
Carolina, defending champion Stanford and Louisville -- are each
No. 1 seeds. It's the fourth time in the last five tournaments
that the Final Four is all No. 1 and No. 2 seeds.
South Carolina (33-2), the top overall seed, faces Louisville
(29-4) in the first semifinal Friday at the Target Center,
followed by Stanford (32-3) vs. UConn (29-5). The championship
game is Sunday.
UConn has won 11 national titles under coach Geno Auriemma, the
first coming in 1995 in Minneapolis. Stanford won the title last
season for the first time since 1992 with a 53-52 victory over
Arizona. The Cardinal also won the title in 1990 and were
runners-up in 2008 and 2010 under coach Tara VanDerveer.
South Carolina, which won the title in 2017 under coach Dawn
Staley, lost to Stanford 66-65 last season in the semifinals.
Louisville lost in the championship game to UConn in 2013 and
2009.
--The Gamecocks' two losses were by a total of three points -- a
70-69 setback at Missouri in late December, and then a 64-62
upset by Kentucky in the SEC tournament title game. The
Gamecocks beat UConn by 16 early in the season, and defeated
Stanford 65-61 in mid-December.
After four games shooting 35 percent or under, the Gamecocks
shot 50.9 percent in an 80-50 rout of Creighton in the regional
final.
"We're playing good basketball," Staley said. "Whether our
shooting percentage is in the 30s or in the 50s, I don't think
we're taking bad shots. So, if we're taking bad shots, then we
have issues. We're just taking good shots that aren't going in.
At some point those shots will go in, and I thought they did a
great job of finding them fall through the rim on Sunday. So, I
hope that will remain the case."
Aliyah Boston, a 6-foot-5 junior, averages 16.8 points and 12.2
rebounds as South Carolina has a 17.9 advantage over opponents
on the boards -- tops in the country. The Gamecocks also are No.
1 in blocks per game at 7.6.
--Louisville topped No. 3 Michigan 62-50 in the regional final.
Sophomore guard Hailey Van Lith has scored at least 20 points in
each of the Cardinals' four tournament victories. The Cardinals
are also armed with Emily Engstler, an All-ACC First Team and
Defensive Team selection who declared for the WNBA Draft on
Tuesday.
Louisville never appeared in a Final Four before it hired Jeff
Walz as coach in 2007. Since then, the Cardinals have gone to
four.
Twice, Walz's Cardinals have lost to UConn in the national
championship game. Louisville beat a UConn team without Paige
Bueckers earlier this season, 69-64.
"The unfortunate thing for us was in ‘09 and ‘13, the two years
that we got to the finals, probably you could put those two
UConn teams in probably the top five best women's basketball
teams ever," Walz said. "Not just at UConn, I'm talking ever."
--Stanford, which avenged an early-season loss by defeating
Texas in the regional final, has won 24 straight since a 65-61
loss at South Carolina on in mid-December.
The Cardinal are deep, tall and balanced. Cameron Brink, a
6-foot-4 sophomore forward, leads with 13.4 points and 8.1
boards per game. Haley Jones adds 12.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and
3.7 assists. Lexie Hull, who had 20 points in the win over
Texas, averages 12.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.2 steals.
VanDerveer, the winningest coach in women's college basketball
history, was asked if repeated post-season appearances are now
routine.
"Not at all. I mean, it is absolutely thrilling. I'm a
10-year-old waking up to Christmas. It never gets old. Never,"
said VanDerveer, who took over at Stanford in 1985. "I'm so
excited. I think part of it is you're with a different team
every time, so it's really exciting with each team that you're
able to bring."
--UConn, which has used 11 different starting lineups due to
injuries, was bolstered by the return of Paige Bueckers, the
reigning player of the year, who missed 19 games while
recovering from knee surgery. Bueckers, a Minnesota native,
scored 27 points in the win over N.C. State, including 15 after
regulation.
UConn will be without forward Dorka Juhasz, who suffered a
season-ending left wrist fracture against N.C. State.
The Huskies last won the championship in 2016, but their reign
of titles began in 1995 in Minneapolis, capping a perfect 35-0
season under Auriemma with a 70-64 victory over Pat Summitt's
Tennessee.
"Every memory that I have about that game is burned into my
mind. I can probably remember every single possession," Auriemma
said. "I can remember every timeout, halftime what we did, where
we stayed, everything, because everything was just so big. We
were riding that undefeated season. We were getting
unprecedented attention that had never been bestowed on a
women's basketball program."
--Field Level Media
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