ALBANY, N.Y. – UConn coach Geno Auriemma and the Huskies are headed back to a familiar spot – the Final Four.
Crystal Dangerfield led the way as top-seeded UConn routed No. 2 South Carolina, 94-65, on Monday night to reach the national semifinals for a record 11th consecutive year.
While the Huskies are regular participants in the Final Four, they are not the defending champions this time around. Their 111-game winning streak and run of four straight national championships were stopped by a last-second overtime loss to Mississippi State in last year’s semifinals.
UConn will face Notre Dame, which beat Oregon, 84-74, on Friday night in Columbus, Ohio.
“Every team starts the season saying that’s our goal to go to the Final Four. For us, it’s an opportunity to go back to where we felt like we didn’t really give our best effort,” Auriemma said. “We lost to a really good team. Happened in a way that was really, really disappointing. I know that we were anxious to go back and put ourselves in that same situation and see how much we’ve changed since last year.”
The Albany Regional final featured the past two NCAA champions in a rare occurrence for the women’s tournament. The Huskies (36-0) quickly turned it into a mismatch with stellar 3-point shooting.
Dangerfield scored 19 of her 21 points in the first half. Gabby Williams had 23 points as UConn scored the most points in school history for this round of the NCAA Tournament.
“Tonight, my teammates did a great job of finding me when I was open and I was able to knock those shots in early,” Dangerfield said.
UConn went right at South Carolina in the first half, connecting on 9 of 10 3-pointers – including a perfect 5-for-5 by Dangerfield. Her last 3 of the second quarter made it 52-31 and delighted a crowd that included former UConn greats Tina Charles and Breanna Stewart, who helped the Huskies to four consecutive national championships. Stewart grew up 2 hours west of Albany.
Katie Lou Samuelson scored 17 points and Napheesa Collier had 16 as UConn shot 59 percent (37-for-63) from the field. Williams was named most outstanding player of the region.
“I think we definitely have something to prove,” Williams said of the Final Four. “Not only to the rest of the world, but to ourselves as well.”
The loss ended the stellar career of South Carolina post A’ja Wilson. The unanimous AP All-American, who grew up a few miles from the Gamecocks’ campus, helped the school win its first national championship last season and guided the team to two Final Fours in her four years. She did all she could to make it a third trip to the national semifinals.
Wilson had 27 points for South Carolina (29-7), but it wasn’t nearly enough. Coach Dawn Staley took her star out with just over 3 minutes left in the game and her team down 31 points.
“We got beat by a really good UConn team,” Staley said. “We didn’t have enough to compete in the way we would have liked to. Now all is well in women’s basketball.”
This was the first time the previous two national champions met in the NCAAs since 1997 when UConn lost to Tennessee. It had happened twice before that.
(1) Notre Dame 84, (2) Oregon 74
SPOKANE, Wash. – Kathryn Westbeld scored 20 points, Jessica Shepard added 18 and Notre Dame reached the Final Four for the eighth time in school history by defeating Oregon, 84-74, on Monday night.
Westbeld came up with the biggest game of her Notre Dame career despite being slowed by an ankle injury from the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Westbeld had scored a combined 12 points in the previous four games, but she teamed with Shepard for an inside attack that hurt the Ducks.
Westbeld made 9 of 12 shots. Notre Dame (33-3) outscored Oregon 52-38 in the paint and outrebounded the Ducks 51-29 in the Spokane Regional final.
Arike Ogunbowale added 19 points and Marina Mabrey had 15 for the Irish.
Despite a handful of costly injuries along the way, the Irish are back in a familiar spot in the national semifinals. It’s the sixth Final Four for Notre Dame since 2011 and old friend UConn awaits in the semis Friday night in Columbus, Ohio.
First-team all-American Sabrina Ionescu led Oregon (33-5) with 26 points, but the Ducks struggled offensively over the final 20 minutes. Oregon shot 8 of 31 in the second half and Ionescu had just seven points after the break.
The Ducks were unable to find other scoring options. Ruthy Hebard had 12 points in the first half and just five in the second half.
Oregon also never got into a rhythm with its outside shooting. The Ducks were 4 of 15 on 3-pointers after entering as the No. 2 team in the country at 40.4 percent from beyond the arc.
Notre Dame’s defense was a big reason why Oregon shot so poorly.
After a first half that was an offensive showcase, Notre Dame did a better job of pressuring Ionescu and getting the ball out of her hands. When she did get a shot attempt, it was often a challenged look.
Notre Dame took full advantage, starting the half on a 15-4 run, including three second-chance baskets and Jackie Young’s jumper with 30 seconds left in the quarter that gave the Irish a 61-55 lead.
The Ducks closed to 65-63 on Hebard’s fast-break layup – just the sixth field goal of the second half for Oregon. Free throws by Westbeld and Shepard’s basket after Ionescu missed pushed the lead back to 69-63 with 4:50 remaining. Westbeld scored again and the lead was 71-63.