3rd-seeded Arizona ousts No. 1 UConn in semis
Wildcats advance to play Stanford in final Sunday
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The UConn women’s basketball team has won 11 national titles and made 21 Final Four appearances — 13 in a row. The program as a whole has the experience and the prestige, even if its young group necessarily does not. Arizona, which had never played in a national semifinal game prior to this season, has not come close to those heights.
None of that seemed to matter on Friday night at the Alamodome.
Third-seeded Arizona, in a position it’s never been in before, looked like the more comfortable team and beat No. 1 UConn, 69-59, to advance to Sunday’s national championship game against Stanford, the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Senior Aari McDonald, the Pac-12’s defensive and overall player of the year, led Arizona with 26 points. UConn junior Christyn Willliams scored a team-high 20 points before she fouled out, while freshman Paige Bueckers, named the AP National Player of the Year, scored 18.
An early turning point in the game came when McDonald drilled a 3-pointer just 42 seconds into the game to open the scoring and the Wildcats showed early that they were not scared of UConn or overwhelmed by the moment.
At the time, all it appeared to be was Arizona’s best player continuing her hot tournament (she scored 30 points in backto-back games entering the Final Four).
It turned out to be a lead that the Huskies would never catch up to.
STANFORD 66, SOUTH CAROLINA 65:
Also in San Antonio, Haley Jones scored 24 points, including the go-ahead jumper with 32 seconds left, to help Stanford (30-2) beat South Carolina and advance to the women’s NCAA Tournament championship game. It’s Stanford’s first trip to the title game since 2010.
Trailing 65-64 with 32 seconds left, Jones hit a jumper from the corner that gave the Cardinal a one-point lead.
South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston then took a shot that was blocked, but got the rebound. With 15 seconds left, Stanford’s Destanni Henderson threw a pass that was stolen by Ashten Prechtel.
After an inbounds, Cameron Brink lost the ball at midcourt to Boston, giving South Carolina a chance. Brea Beal missed a driving layup and Boston’s putback at the buzzer also was off the rim, sending the Cardinal onto the court to celebrate.