The NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament is now down to four teams as well, as the regional championships were played on Sunday and Monday night.
In the first game on Sunday, the LSU Tigers (32-2) advanced to the Final Four in Dallas with a 54-42 victory over the pesky ninth seeded Miami Hurriances. Miami got to the Elite 8 with upset wins over #8 Oklahoma State, #1 Indiana, and #4 Villanova. The #2 seed Iowa Hawkeyes (30-6) got a triple double from Caitlin Clark (41 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists) to take the nightcap on Sunday 97-83 over Louisville for the regional title. The defending national champion and #1 team in the country South Carolina returned to the Final Four by taking Mondays opening game 86-75 over Louisville. The Gamecocks are 36-0 and the 36 wins are a program high for one season. In the second game on Monday night, Virginia Tech (31-4) heads to the Final Four for the very first time by defeating Ohio State 84-74.
Three of the four teams in Dallas have never won a national championship. LSU who faces Virginia Tech returns to the Final Four for a sixth time and their first since 2008, but has never won the title. Iowa has also never lifted the trophy, and appears in the Final Four for the second time and first since 1993. The Hawkeyes will take on undefeated South Carolina. The Gamecocks will be looking to make it back to back, and also win their third championship in six seasons with 2017 being their first. The national semifinals tip off at 7 p.m. Friday with LSU-Virginia Tech, followed by South Carolina-Iowa at 9. The national championship game is Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
Story by Chris Lessner
