S.C. rallies to final

Stanford loses lead in second half after guard is injured.

DALLAS — Allisha Gray scored 18 points and A’ja Wilson had a double-double, leading South Carolina to its first NCAA championship game in women’s basketball with a 62-53 defeat of Stanford on Friday night in a semifinal.

“I can’t even put into words the feeling that I have right now. This is a very special team,” said Wilson, who had 13 points and 19 rebounds. “I feel like we’ve earned this spot that we’re in now. We know that we’re not done. But just the feeling of just making history at your school is just something really special.”

Connecticut played Mississippi State in the later semifinal.

The Gamecocks (32-4) went ahead to stay with 13 straight points in the third quarter as part of a 42-24 edge in the second half.

Stanford (32-6) took a big hit when senior guard Karlie Samuelson sprained her right ankle about 41/2 minutes before halftime, after the Cardinal had taken an eightpoint lead with a 13-1 run.

Samuelson was injured on a drive when she stepped on a defender’s foot. Two teammates carried her off the floor.

Samuelson, who finished scoreless and took only two shots in 25 minutes, returned to start the second half. But she was back on the bench after only 73 seconds. She entered the game several more times but was ineffective.

“Karlie twisting her ankle really kind of gave us a tough time,” coach Tara VanDerveer said. “She’s really been the glue to our team all year. She talks, she makes big shots. If someone told me before the game she won’t score, I’d say we’re in trouble . ... Psychologically and physically, it was a challenge.”

Erica McCall had 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Cardinal, but made only 7 of 19 shots. Alanna Smith had 14 points and 12 rebounds.

South Carolina opened the second half on a 19-4 run and took a 35-33 lead on Bianca Cuevas-Moore’s 3-pointer with 3:31 remaining in the third quarter.

The Gamecocks led the rest of the way, with Stanford getting as close as three points twice in the fourth quarter.

Stanford missed three shots on its next possession after the Gamecocks took the lead, and South Carolina quickly extended the margin on freshman Tyasha Harris’ one-handed pass to Doniyah Cline, who was open under the basket for a layup.

That was the only assist for Harris, who had 10 points.

South Carolina lost in the semifinals of its only other Final Four appearance two years ago.

The Gamecocks’ Dawn Staley, who played for VanDerveer on the U.S. women’s team that won the 1996 Olympic gold medal, won as a coach against the Stanford coach for the first time in six tries.

The Cardinal trailed by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter and couldn’t pull off another comeback. They had trailed by at least seven points in six games they came back to win this season. That included five games in the Pac-12 and NCAA Tournaments.

The South Carolina men’s team takes on Gonzaga today in the Final Four in Glendale, Ariz.