MINNEAPOLIS — The team that has been No. 1 in women’s basketball since the season began, South Carolina, will get a shot at the NCAA championship on Sunday.
The Gamecocks, seeded No. 1 overall, beat another No. 1, Louisville, 72-59 at the Target Center in the first semifinal of the women’s Final Four on Friday.
South Carolina, 34-2, will be in the NCAA finals for the second time in program history. The Gamecocks won the national championship game in 2017. South Carolina lost the SEC conference finals last month in a late 3-pointer to Kentucky, but will now contend for the title that’s worth more.
South Carolina post player Aliyah Boston, a junior, had her double-double streak snapped at 27 in the Gamecocks’ Elite Eight victory over Creighton. Ella pero ella had a double-double again on Friday, finishing with 23 points and 18 rebounds. She also added four assists and looked exactly like someone who has won every national player of the year award so far.
Boston, who also won the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year honor, anchored a Gamecocks defense that made it all difficult for Louisville, which finished its season 29-5.
After last year’s national semifinal loss, 66-65, to Stanford where he missed what would have been a game-winning putback just before the buzzer, Boston was left in tears. She’s seen the video of her distraught reaction to her too many times since, and has spoken about her determination not to experience anything like it again in the Final Four.
However, Friday’s game didn’t have that kind of drama. South Carolina started with an 11-2 lead as the Gamecocks made 5 of their first 10 shots and the Cardinals were just 1 of 6. And for the most part, that set the tone for the rest of the game. Louisville had its streaks, but South Carolina was in control.
South Carolina led 17-10 after the first quarter, during which the Cardinals were largely limited to jump shots. It was the first time since Jan. 23 against Wake Forest that the Cardinals had lost after the first quarter.
But the Cardinals struggled. At 6:48 of the second quarter, forward Emily Engstler stole a pass and hit a layup, giving Louisville its first lead at 20-19.
By halftime, the Gamecocks were leading again, 34-28, led by eight points and eight rebounds from Boston. The good news for the Cardinals is that they were down to six even though shooting guard Hailey Van Lith was limited to two points. The bad news is that Van Lith’s night didn’t improve much in the second half. After scoring at least 20 points in Louisville’s first four NCAA Tournament games, she was limited to nine on Friday.
Engstler was fouled for his fourth with 4.2 seconds remaining in the third quarter; after that, the Gamecocks led 57-48. Then the transfer player from Syracuse, who brought so much energy to the Cardinals this season, drew maximum fouls with 4:56 left in the game and took her face in her hands on the Louisville bench. In her last college game – she already declared for the next WNBA draft – she had 18 points and nine rebounds.
South Carolina had four other players besides Boston score in double figures: Brea Beal had 12 points, Destanni Henderson 11 and Victaria Saxton and Zia Cooke each had 10.
South Carolina will face UConn in the national championship game, as the Huskies beat Stanford in the other Final Four semifinal on Friday, 63-58, with 14 points from Paige Bueckers; the Gamecocks beat UConn in the regular season.
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