Texas and Connecticut punched their tickets to the women’s Final Four on Monday, joining UCLA and South Carolina.
In the night’s opening game, Madison Booker led the Longhorns to their first women’s Final Four since 2003. Next, Paige Bueckers led the Huskies to a record 24th Final Four appearance after beating the University of Southern California, playing without injured superstar JuJu Watkins.
Rori Harmon put her hands on her knees and bowed her head as the clock wound down. The Texas senior guard doesn’t like crying, but she gave herself a moment to reflect on the past 10 months.
This time last year, Harmon was sidelined by a knee injury. She could only watch as the Longhorns were eliminated in the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
It came full circle Monday night. Madison Booker scored 18 points, Harmon added 13 and No. 1 seed Texas used its stifling defense to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2003, beating well-traveled point guard Hailey Van Lith and second-seeded TCU 58-47.
“Just to see us get to the Final Four after recovering and coming back from my ACL injury in 10 months,” Harmon said, “I thought it was an amazing thing, and I was just really proud of myself in that moment.”
The Longhorns forced 21 turnovers and had nine steals and six blocks, but they didn’t pull away until center Kyla Oldacre intercepted Van Lith’s pass and went coast-to-coast early in the fourth quarter.
The 6-foot-6 Oldacre was fouled by Prince and made the free throw, energizing the Longhorns and the announced crowd of 12,175 that made the trip to Alabama. The three-point play put Texas ahead by double digits for the first time.
After falling behind by 14, TCU pulled within six with 2:42 remaining on four straight points from forward Deasia Merrill. Consecutive jumpers from Booker and Harmon put the Longhorns back up by 10, and the Horned Frogs never got any closer.
Harmon had two steals in the first seven minutes as the Longhorns held the Horned Frogs to just nine points in the opening quarter. The Longhorns went up by nine before TCU closed the second quarter on a 7-0 run that made it 23-21 at the half.
Oldacre scored nine points, all in the second half, to help Texas outscore TCU 35-26 after the break.
This was the 57th meeting of the former Big 12 foes and first in the NCAA Tournament. Texas moved to the Southeastern Conference this season, went 15-1 against the SEC in the regular season, captured the regular-season title and had the SEC player of the year in Booker.
The Longhorns (35-3) will face defending champion South Carolina on Friday night in Tampa, Florida, for a spot in the national title game.
Paige Bueckers carried UConn to its record 24th Final Four of the women’s NCAA Tournament, scoring 31 points Monday night in a 78-64 victory over Southern California, which couldn’t overcome the loss of injured star JuJu Watkins.
Freshman Sarah Strong added 22 points and 17 rebounds for the second-seeded Huskies, who have won a record 11 NCAA titles, all under coach Geno Auriemma. Their most recent championship was in 2016, the last of a run of four straight.
Rayah Marshall scored 23 points and 15 rebounds for top-seeded USC (31-4) which also lost to UConn in the Elite Eight last year when Watkins was a freshman.
Fans undoubtedly anticipated a rematch between Bueckers and Watkins when the brackets were announced, but the matchup lost some luster when Trojans’ star guard tore an ACL in the second round and needed surgery.
While the Trojans got past Kansas State in the Sweet 16 without Watkins, they had a tougher challenge against UConn and Bueckers, the likely No. 1 overall pick in next month’s WNBA draft.
UConn led by 19 points in the third quarter, but USC got within 51-46 going into the fourth. Bueckers and Azzi Fudd made consecutive 3-pointers that extended the Huskies’ lead to 62-48.
Avery Howell’s 3-pointer closed the gap to 70-61 with 1:04 left, but the Trojans got no closer.
USC was seeking its first Final Four appearance since 1986 and first title since going back-to-back in 1983 and ‘84.
The Trojans led early before Strong made back-to-back jumpers for the Huskies to pull in front 12-11. Bueckers didn’t get her first basket until nine minutes into the game.
With Bueckers off to a slow start, Strong took over, nailing a 3-pointer that gave the Huskies a 21-13 lead. Bueckers hit a 3 to give the Huskies a 39-25 lead at the half.
Another 3 by Bueckers gave UConn a 47-30 lead before USC responded with an 11-0 run.
UConn (35-3) heads to Tampa, Florida, to face overall No. 1 seed UCLA on Friday.
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