Irish, UConn reach Elite 8

Huskies will meet defending champ S. Carolina next.

Geno Auriemma and the UConn Huskies are in a familiar place — the Elite Eight.

Napheesa Collier had 16 points and 11 rebounds to help top-seed UConn beat Duke 72-59 on Saturday and advance to the regional finals for the 13th straight season.

The Huskies’ senior duo of Gabby Williams and Kia Nurse was key on the defensive end to help UConn to the win.

“We’re fortunate that our two seniors are two of the better defensive players in the country,” Auriemma said. “We can count on those two every game. Gabby’s going to play great every game. She plays at a certain level every game. Kia’s one of the toughest competitors we’ve had at Connecticut.”

UConn (35-0) will face defending champion South Carolina on Monday night to try and advance to a record 11th straight Final Four.

Duke (24-9) had only given up an average of 49 points in its first two games of the tournament. UConn had that by the end of the third quarter, much to the delight of the crowd of 10,658 that took in the Albany (N.Y.) Regional.

Notre Dame 90, Texas A&M 84: Muffet McGraw checked through the list of all the things Notre Dame did poorly early on. Bad shot selection. Lack of rebounding. Not enough stops on defense.

“We got down big. We’ve been down in other games. We feel like we are poised and can come back,” McGraw said.

As McGraw expected, the top-seeded Fighting Irish did have a comeback waiting and it landed Notre Dame back on the cusp of another trip to the Final Four.

Arike Ogunbowale scored 17 of her 27 points in the second half and Marina Mabrey added 25, hitting a careerhigh seven 3-pointers, to help Notre Dame beat No. 4 seed Texas A&M (26-10) in the Spokane (Wash.) Regional semifinals.

The Irish (32-3) rallied from a 13-point first-half deficit and are back in their familiar spot of playing for a trip to the Final Four.

South Carolina 79, Buffalo 63: That the upstate New York crowd wasn’t rooting for South Carolina didn’t matter one bit to A’ja Wilson. Her imposing presence inside and her booming voice proved enough for the Gamecocks to escape Buffalo.

The 6-foot-5 Wilson, the consensus first pick in the next WNBA draft, had 20 points and 13 rebounds, Alexis Jennings added 20 points, and South Carolina held off the upstart Bulls to keep alive its quest to defend its national title.

“I just feel like my energy really helps my teammates,” Wilson said. “That’s the biggest thing. That’s my goal, whether it’s screaming at one or just screaming at everyone. That’s just how I operate. I really try to use that on every possession.

“We have to let each other know that everything’s going to be OK.”

Second-seeded South Carolina (29-6), whose only losses this season have come against ranked teams, will face top-seeded and unbeaten UConn in the regional final on Monday.

Cierra Dillard led Buffalo with 29 points, the only Bulls player in double figures.

Buffalo (29-6), the third Mid-American Conference school to reach the Sweet 16, was among the final four to earn an at-large berth. It was the program’s second NCAA appearance after a first-round exit in 2016.