Ohio St. ends Uconn’s run of 14 straight Final Fours
SEATTLE — Ohio State ended Uconn's unprecedented streak of reaching 14 consecutive Final Fours, beating the Huskies 73-61 on Saturday in the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA Tournament.
“The problem with streaks is the longer they go, you're closer to it ending than you are to the beginning of it,” Uconn coach Geno Auriemma said. “It's just a matter of time. I mean, it's not if it's going to happen. It's just a matter of time when it's going to happen. And it was going to happen sooner rather than later.”
Cotie Mcmahon scored 23 points for the Buckeyes, who snapped their three-decade Elite Eight drought. The Buckeyes hadn't made a regional final since 1993, when they eventually lost in the title game to Texas Tech.
“When I had the opportunity to come to Ohio State, this was certainly the goal and the vision to go farther than they have been going,” said coach Kevin Mcguff. “It's not easy to get here, obviously. But I'm really proud of our team and our program of how we've evolved to be able to get to this point.
"Like I said, I mean, I have so much respect for Geno and his staff and all that they have accomplished. So for us to be able to win this game in the Sweet 16 is obviously extremely significant. They're just hard to beat. They're so well-coached. So this is a great win for us.”
The third-seeded Buckeyes (28-7) forced No. 2 seed Uconn (31-6) into 25 turnovers, ending the Huskies' season before the national semifinals for the first time in 14 seasons. Uconn hadn't been eliminated this early since 2006.
“It's an impossibility to do what we have done already,” Auriemma said. “What's the next highest streak? ... And you take that in stride and you say, yeah, it was great while it lasted and it's a credit to all the players that we had and all the times that you have to perform really, really well at this level.”
VIRGINIA TECH 73 TENNESSEE 64
Georgia Amoore scored a career-high 29 points and topseeded Hokies advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history with a win over the No. 4 seed Volunteers.
Virginia Tech (30-4) won its 14th straight game overall and advanced to a matchup with No. 3 seed Ohio State in the Seattle 3 Regional final on Monday night. Ohio State topped
Uconn in the first semifinal, ending the Huskies' streak of 14 straight Final Four appearances.
Amoore and the Hokies used a dominant stretch spanning the end of the second quarter and beginning of the third that built enough of a cushion to hold off Tennessee's valiant rally over the final 12 minutes.
Amoore attempted 19 3-pointers in the Hokies' second-round win, but shot only 14 this time around.
Kayana Traylor added 14 points and Elizabeth Kitley scored 12 points despite sitting a big chunk of the first half with foul trouble.