Key events
Halftime: South Carolina 24-26 UConn
Shade makes yet another contribution with an offensive rebound, but Fudd misses the resulting shot. South Carolina can’t find a decent shot as the clock runs down, though. UConn gets the rebound but has no time to advance the ball, and a compelling first half is over.
South Carolina 23-26 UConn, 1:10 left, second quarter: Not the restart Staley had in mind, as UConn picks off a pass and is off to the races. But the Huskies can’t finish, and South Carolina continues to have a rebounding edge.
Ashlynn Shade once again pops free for a 3-pointer … nope, her foot is on the line again. She still picks up two points to run her total to eight.
South Carolina 23-24 UConn, 2:08 left, second quarter: Quiñónez gets her first points on a nifty post move. South Carolina rushes things at the other end, and then Azzi Fudd’s first points of the game put UConn out in front. Dawn Staley calls timeout.
South Carolina 23-20 UConn, 3:05 left, second quarter: Wild shot by Mateer misses, but UConn takes two inaccurate shots at the other end. South Carolina beats UConn back down the court, with Edwards converting the layup. Edwards gets back on defense to pick up a steal.
South Carolina 21-20 UConn, 4:28 left, second quarter: Ashlynn Shade wasn’t the person you might have expected to keep UConn close, but she’s doing just that, as she runs her point total to six. After another South Carolina miss, Sarah Strong makes a … well, strong move in the lane to pull the Huskies within one. They tie up the ball and will have possession after the media timeout.
South Carolina 21-18 UConn, 5:35 left, second quarter: Tessa Johnson hesitates as if unable to believe how open she is after a South Carolina inbounds play.
Another miss for UConn, and Edwards scores in the post at the other end. The Gamecocks are on a tear.
South Carolina 17-16 UConn, 7:15 left, second quarter: Sarah Strong takes a turn on the breakaway, poking the ball free and racing upcourt. Maddy McDaniels fouls the UConn star to put on the free throw line. She clanks the first off the rim but hits the second.
South Carolina 17-15 UConn, 7:47 left, second quarter: South Carolina pokes the ball free, and Latson has a breakaway. She easily converts.
Fudd misses a 3-pointer. She has not yet scored.
The defenses are back in the ascendancy.
South Carolina 15-15 UConn, 8:30 left, second quarter: Raven Johnson picks up a second quick foul. Coach Dawn Staley gives a look of disapproval.
South Carolina 15-15 UConn, 9:00 left, second quarter: Missed opportunity on defense for South Carolina, as they force UConn to run down the shot clock but allow the Huskies to reset after Raven Johnson commits a foul.
End first quarter: South Carolina 15-15 UConn
Quiñónez picks up her second foul and takes a seat.
UConn forces South Carolina to use all of the shot clock, and Latson has to try an acrobatic scoop. It’s off the rim, but South Carolina taps the ball out to Mateer, who hits a 3-pointer with just a couple of seconds left in the quarter. We’re tied.
South Carolina 12-15 UConn, 1:35 left, first quarter: Pretty fadeaway jumper from Kayleigh Heckel, who transferred to UConn from the other USC (Southern California).
Quiñonez commits the game’s first foul, and Agot Makeer hits both free throws.
South Carolina 10-13 UConn, 2:03 left, first quarter: UConn brings in impressive first-year player Blanca Quiñonez, but she shows a bit of inexperience by stepping over the baseline for a turnover.
Good work in the post by Joyce Edwards to pull South Carolina within three.
South Carolina 8-13 UConn, 3:27 left, first quarter: We’ve hit the first media timeout.
Both teams sputtered at the start but have figured things out offensively. The defenses are solid – UConn has already forced a shot clock violation, and South Carolina nearly did so at the other end – but these teams have too much offensive talent to hold back for too long.
South Carolina 8-13 UConn, 3:55 left, first quarter: And as I type that, Sarah Strong bails out her team with a 3-pointer as the shot clock nears zero. She scores again after another Okot miss, and the Huskies are already running away.
Tessa Johnson responds with a layup and then a jumper.
Shade hits a long 2 – this is frenetic stuff.
South Carolina 4-6 UConn, 5:49 left, first quarter: Williams again after some dizzying ball movement.
Tessa Johnson rushes things for South Carolina at the other end. UConn misses on their next possession but forces a turnover with a tough trap along the baseline. They miss a 3-pointer, and Latson ties it.
Ashlynn Shade scores for UConn – the big names for each side have been held scoreless as the teams collect their first 10 points.
South Carolina 2-2 UConn, 7:35 left, first quarter: Great defense by the Huskies to force Madina Okot to take a long jump shot. She seems uncomfortable with it and misses the rim, yielding a shot clock violation.
Serah Williams picks up the first points for UConn.
Tipoff
South Carolina 2-0 UConn, 9:23 left, first quarter: South Carolina controls, and Latson hits a layup for the game’s first points.
One minute to go? Maybe?
The national anthem is finished … but we still have nearly 10 minutes until tipoff. What they plan to do until then, I have no idea. Classwork?
AP All-Americans in the Final Four …
First team
Sarah Strong, UConn
Azzi Fudd, UConn
Madison Booker, Texas
Lauren Betts, UCLA
(Also Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt)
Second team
Joyce Edwards, South Carolina
Third team
Kiki Rice, UCLA
Raven Johnson, South Carolina
Honorable mention
Rori Harmon, Texas
Gianna Kneepkens, UCLA
Ta’Niya Latson, South Carolina
Since last year …
In last year’s Final Four, Connecticut beat UCLA 85-51 in the semifinals and finished off South Carolina 82-59 in the final.
The defending champion Huskies had to reload after No. 1 overall WNBA draft pick Paige Bueckers departed, along with Kaitlyn Chen and Aubrey Griffin. To give some idea of how deep that team was – Griffin averaged 11.1 minutes per game and played just three minutes in the final, but she was still taken in the WNBA draft. Connecticut had two players with 24 points each in the final, Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong, and they’re both ready to run it back tonight.
South Carolina came into the tournament as the defending champions, having fended off Caitlin Clark’s Iowa team the year before. Like UConn, the Gamecocks had three players picked in the WNBA draft – Te-Hina Paopao, Sania Feagin and Bree Hall. MiLaysia Fulwiley transferred to LSU. Two senior transfers, Madina Okot (Mississippi State) and Ta’Niya Latson (Florida State), have joined senior Raven Johnson and junior Tessa Johnson in an experienced starting lineup in which the only younger player is second-team All-American sophomore Joyce Edwards.
Thanks, Ella and Stephanie, for making me cry. (I went to Duke. The Blue Devils came agonizingly close to a championship a few times, but they needed some rebuilding by the time Kara Lawson took over.)
Would anyone know anything about the University of Connecticut if they didn’t have the most dominant women’s basketball team of the past 30 years? What? They have a men’s team? I’m unfamiliar with that. I know Duke lost in the Elite Eight (same day at the women), but I think they lost to Southern California or Hofstra or Georgia or someone.
Back to the games at hand today – these teams’ presence in the Final Four is a surprise to exactly no one. They were all here last year. They were No. 1 seeds. Is it a good thing that women’s college basketball is so predictable? I asked that question recently.
But tonight, we have the potential for two fascinating games. If any teams can give UConn a game, it’s the three other teams in Phoenix.
Enjoy.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, read Stephanie Kaloi’s piece on the word echoing throughout this year’s NCAA Tournament, through the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
Kara Lawson’s Duke team saw their Final Four dreams dashed with a 70-58 loss to UCLA on Sunday. The Blue Devils had pulled an impressive, buzzer-beating upset of No 2 seed LSU in the Sweet 16 days before, but against the No 1 Bruins in the Elite Eight, they didn’t give a repeat performance. They missed a few key moments in transition that could have changed the game and helped them to their first Final Four in 20 years.
In the end, though, it was OK.
“I told the group after the game, just before we came up here, what a great season it’s been for us. And this group has been a joy to coach every day,” Lawson told reporters after the game. Duke lost six of their 13 games played between 3 November and 28 December, and many had written off the team before they even had a chance to get into a groove.
“From where we started to where we finished, I don’t know that there’s a team that grew more than we did in the country, from where we started to where we finished,” Lawson added. “That is all because of our players, their belief, their faith and their trust in each other and our staff. That’s hard to find. That’s rare.”
Suffering a big loss that simultaneously ends a team’s March Madness hopes isn’t easy to swallow, and summoning joy from that experience isn’t for the weak. But over and over again, that’s what players and coaches have done so far during this tournament cycle. While there’s been plenty of emphasis on what went wrong and how it can be fixed before next season, there’s also been an intentional focus on what went right, too.
