The UConn Huskies and Texas Longhorns are headed to Tampa, Florida, and the Final Four of the women’s NCAA basketball tournament after each emerged victorious from their Elite Eight contests Monday night.
The Huskies and Longhorns join the South Carolina Gamecocks and UCLA Bruins, who each advanced to college basketball’s biggest stage with wins on Sunday.
In the evening’s nightcap in Spokane, Washington, the No. 2 seed UConn Huskies took down the No. 1 seed University of Southern California Trojans78-64.
With USC dedicated to trying to slow down UConn’s national player of the year finalist Paige Bueckers, the Huskies turned to freshman forward Sarah Strong, who scored a impressive 15 points in the first half.
After holding Bueckers in check much of the first half, the star senior hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute of the half to bring her total to 13 points as the Big East champs took a 39-25 advantage into the intermission.
UConn looked to have the game in hand, leading by as many at 19 points in the third quarter, but USC ended the 3rd quarter on an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to five points with the score 51-46.
The Huskies’ offense woke back up in the fourth quarter and re-established a comfortable lead with some timely shooting from from Bueckers and senior guard Azzi Fudd, who had eight points in the game, all coming in the final quarter.
Bueckers finished with a game-high 31 points, followed by teammate Strong with 22. Strong also pulled down 17 rebounds in the game.
“It’s a team win, a team victory,” Bueckers told ESPN after the game. “The coaches do a really good job preparing us for this moment and we stepped up.”
Bueckers continued: “Throughout the adversity, through everything we’ve just come together and remained a team, remained connected, remained unaffected by everything that’s going on. We just stayed together, and that’s how we got it done.”
Southern Cal was competing without their own national player of the year finalist JuJu Watkins, who suffered a season-ending injury in the Trojans’ Sweet 16 win over Mississippi State a week ago.
Women’s college hoops’ unquestioned dynasty UConn will be making its record-extending 24th Final Four appearance, all coming under head coach Geno Auriemma, who is in his 40th season at the helm at UConn.
“These guys have learned how to play so hard together. They’ve learned to trust each other,” Auriemma told ESPN after advancing to his eighth Final Four in the last nine NCAA tournaments.
“We’ve got guys that make big plays exactly when we need them. … It’s a Connecticut thing, I hope, that when we get in these situations, we know how to win. And I’m really proud of that.”
The Huskies will continue their quest for their 12th national championship as they face the No. 1 overall seed Bruins in the semifinals on Friday at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Earlier in the evening, the Texas Longhorns booked a ticket to the Final Four for the fourth time in program history and first since ...
