After a pair of games in the women’s college basketball Final Four in San Antonio Friday night, the national title game is now all set for Sunday evening.
The first national semifinal featured a pair of #1 seeds in South Carolina and Stanford that came right down to the wire. South Carolina (26-5) had a pair of nine points leads in the first quarter, before Stanford closed the opening 10 minutes on a 9-0 run to tie it 15-15. The Cardinal then took the lead early in the second, and outscored the Gamecocks 16-10 in the period for a 31-25 halftime lead. The lead was extended to nine in the third quarter, before South Carolina eventually tied it but would still trail by three headed to the fourth. The Gamecocks stayed within striking distance and took a 65-64 lead when Destanni Henderson hit a three-pointer with 39 seconds left. Haley Jones regained the lead 66-65 for Stanford hitting a jumper on a loose ball with 32 seconds remaining. A turnover and then a foul by South Carolina gave the ball back to the Cardinal with nine seconds to go. Aliyah Boston though came up with a steal for SC near midcourt in the closing seconds, but Brea Beal missed a driving layup attempt before Boston had a chance on the rebound but missed the putback off the back off the rim in the lane as time expired and Stanford held on for the one point win. Zia Cooke led South Carolina with 25 points on 5-8 three-point shooting. Jones had 24 points for Stanford, while Lexie Hull had 18 points and 13 rebounds. The Cardinal (30-2), the overall top seed in this tournament, has now won 19 games in a row.
In the nightcap, the #3 seed Arizona led from start to finish to knock off #1 Connecticut 69-59. The Wildcats held the Huskies to just 33% shooting in the first half, leading by as many as 12 and 32-22 at the break. UConn (28-2) got within five early in the third quarter on a three-pointer by Christyn Williams, before Arizona (21-5) ran off seven straight over the next three minutes to push the advantage back to 12. The biggest lead of the night went to 14, before the Huskies cut it back to nine headed to the final period. UConn would once again slice the lead to five on a Paige Bueckers three-pointer with 1:26 to play, but simply ran out of time and the Wildcats hit 6-8 from the line down the stretch to ice the win. Williams led UConn with 20 points in the loss, while Arizona was led by Aari McDonald who was the game high scorer with 26 points.
The title game is set for a 6 p.m. tipoff on Sunday. Stanford is in their 14th Final Four, but has only two titles with their last coming in 1992. It will be their first championship game since 2010. This is the first ever appearance in the Final Four for Arizona. The Cardinal and Wildcats met twice in the regular season, with Stanford winning both matchups 81-54 and 62-48.
