Arizona shocks Uconn in semis
Tough defense fuels upset, sets up final matchup vs. Stanford
Aari Mcdonald scored 26 points and lead a smothering defensive effort for Arizona as the Wildcats beat Uconn 69-59 Friday night to advance to the women’s NCAA Tournament championship game for the first time in school history.
The Wildcats never trailed against the favored and fabled Huskies, who have made the Final Four 13 consecutive times, but haven’t made the championship game since 2016 when Uconn won its 11th title.
Arizona held Uconn to a season low in points, but still had to hold on late after leading by 14 late in the third quarter as the Huskies made a late push. At the final buzzer, Mcdonald threw the ball high in the air and was mobbed by her teammates near center court. She shared a long hug with coach Adia Barnes, who starred as a player at the school in the late 1990s.
Arizona (21-5) will play Stanford for the title on Sunday night in an all Pac-12 final.
As she has done throughout the tournament, Mcdonald did it all for the Wildcats with slashing drives, pinpoint shooting from long range, and a defensive intensity that held Uconn’s star freshman Paige Bueckers in check in for long stretches.
Bueckers, The Associated
Press player of the year, finished with 18 points and her 3-pointer with 1:23 left got Uconn within 60-55 in the final two minutes before Arizona closed out the win with free throws. Christyn Williams led Uconn (28-2) with 20 points before fouling out.
The two programs had met once before in the tournament, back in 1998 when Barnes was the Wildcats point guard. Uconn won that matchup and now it’s Barnes and Arizona taking the next big step to a championship.
Uconn, which has no seniors in the lineup, started slow as the Huskies looked tentative in the role of favorite. Mcdonald and the Wildcats looked primed for their moment after being left out of the NCAA’S Final Four promotional video on Twitter that had featured the three other teams but not them.
Uconn had four early turnovers and missed its first five shots before Bueckers made a 3-pointer to settle the offense, even if only temporarily. Mcdonald, opened the game with a 3-pointer, made another two minutes later, and scored eight as the Wildcats led 16-10 after the first quarter.
Mcdonald pumped in two more from long range in the second quarter and the Wildcats led 32-22 at halftime. Bueckers was struggling to get any looks at the basket and finished the half with just four shots and three points.
Stanford 66, South Carolina 65: Haley Jones came up with a big shot, and Stanford got a little bit of luck to get back to the national championship game for the first time in 11 years. Jones scored 24 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 32 seconds left, to help Stanford edge South Carolina. “It was a battle. It was a really tough game where we had to work really hard,” Stanford coach Tara Vanderveer said. It’s Stanford’s first trip to the title game since 2010, which was also in San Antonio. The Cardinal lost to Uconn in that contest, 53-47. Now they’ll face Pac-12 rival Arizona on Sunday night. The fourth-seeded Wildcats knocked off top-seed Uconn 6959. Leading by one, the Cardinal turned it over with 6.2 seconds left at midcourt and Brea Beal missed a contested layup as Lexie Hull hustled back to get in her way. Aliyah Boston grabbed the rebound, but her putback attempt also bounced off the rim setting off a wild celebration by the Cardinal. “It is nice to have a little karma go your way,” Vanderveer said. Vanderveer, who earlier this season topped Pat Summitt’s all-time win mark of 1,098 victories, will be looking for her third national championship at the school and first since 1992.