After weeks of grueling action, the women’s March Madness is down to just four teams.
The Final Four of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament will be held on Friday, with both games being played in Tampa, Florida.
Here’s everything you need to know about the two semifinal clashes with a spot in Sunday’s national championship game on the line.
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-How to watch and full schedule
The Final Four tips off at 7 p.m. ET with defending champion No. 1 South Carolina facing No. 1 Texas before No. 1 UCLA takes on No. 2 UConn, with their game tipping off 30 minutes after the previous contest has finished.
Both games will be hosted at the Amalie Arena and both will be shown on ESPN.
No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 1 Texas – 7 p.m.
The first Final Four matchup sees last year’s champion seeking to continue the defense of its title.
The South Carolina Gamecocks have become the team to beat in women’s college basketball in recent years, with head coach Dawn Staley building the team into a perennial winner.
The Gamecocks are aiming to cement their dynasty by winning their third title in four years, thereby becoming the fourth team to win back-to-back national titles, joining Tennessee, Southern California and UConn.
Many of the team’s former star players now ply their trade in the WNBA – such as A’Ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston and Kamilla Cardoso – and the current Gamecock squad has been taking advantage of the ties with those talented alums.
“Relationships are important no matter where you go in life. To be able to talk to alumni and former Gamecocks, it helps our program a lot because they’ve been through it,” guard Te-Hina Paopao told reporters on Thursday.
“They speak life into us. And (Markeshia Grant) helped us during the season with team bonding and just bringing us closer together and just having that involvement with everyone on the team. And it’s helped us greatly and we learn from it. And we’ve continued to use those team-bonding moments to help us in the long run and experience like this.”
A national title would be Staley’s fourth since joining South Carolina, having already lifted the trophy in 2017, 2022 and 2024.
The Basketball Hall of Fame coach has been able to maintain South Carolina’s success on the court despite inevitably losing players to the WNBA, and she explained that building trust between her and her squad is the most important aspect in remaining a winning team.
“You have to condition young ...
