The women’s college basketball national championship game is set.
No. 2 seed UConn will return to the national title game for the first time since 2016, and will take on No. 1 seed South Carolina on Sunday night in Minneapolis.
In the first Final Four game of the night on Friday, South Carolina dispatched fellow No. 1 seed Louisville, 72–59, in a game that wasn’t all that competitive.
The Cardinals trailed by seven after the first quarter and never truly recovered, as they struggled all night to defend Gamecocks forward Aliyah Boston, who finished with a dominant 23 points and 18 rebounds. Louisville simply had no answer for Boston, who continues to make her case as the best player in college basketball.
Louisville forward Emily Engstler led the Cardinals with 18 points and nine rebounds, but fouled out early in the fourth quarter, which effectively ended any hope that Louisville had to stage a comeback.
The second game of the night between UConn and No. 1 seed Stanford was a tighter affair, as the Huskies battled to stave off the Cardinal late, knocking the defending champions out of the tournament, 63–58.
UConn led for much of the game, but after the Huskies went up seven with less than two minutes to go, Stanford staged a furious comeback to cut the UConn lead to two with 18 seconds left. However, that was as close as the Cardinal would get, as Huskies guard Christyn Williams made a pair of free throws with 11 seconds to play to put the Huskies up 63–58.
Neither team would score again, as the Huskies survived to advance to their 12th national championship game. The x-Factor for UConn to go on a run in postseason play is undoubtedly guard Paige Bueckers, who finished with 14 points, five assists, and four rebounds on Friday night. Bueckers missed much of the regular season after suffering a fracture in her knee in a game against Notre Dame in December.
Since returning to the lineup in late February, Bueckers showed why she is an All-American player when healthy. She’s averaging nearly 16 points per game in the tournament, and has proved to be a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses.
South Carolina will likely have the best player on the floor on Sunday night in Aliyah Boston, but UConn’s Paige Bueckers isn’t far behind.
The Gamecocks will look to win their first national title since 2017, when the program won their first championship in school history. The Huskies, meanwhile, are searching for their 12th national championship in as many tries. They have never lost a national championship game, as they enter Sunday with a perfect 11–0 record in title game appearances.
The women’s college basketball national championship will take place Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
