IT’S CRYSTAL CLEAR
Dangerfield’s hot start lifts UConn past South Carolina and into record 11th straight Final Four
Albany, N.Y. — Crystal Dangerfield, the sophomore her teammates describe as animated off the court, stoic on it, was having the game of a lifetime Monday night.
She would free herself on the perimeter and one of her pass-happy UConn women's basketball teammates, inevitably, would find her. Dangerfield was 5-for-5 from 3-point range in the first half, even managing a grin once.
“I was just trying to keep an eye out for her because I knew she had a hot hand,” UConn senior Gabby Williams said. “It's fun to watch your teammate go off like that. She was having fun with that. To see her crack a smile … it gave energy to the rest of us.”
It was the day that top-seeded UConn (36-0) made it back to the Final Four for a previously unheard of 11th straight year, convincingly dispatching defending national champion and second-seeded South Carolina 94-65 in the Albany Regional final before 9,522 fans at the Times Union Center.
UConn, which had an unprecedented 111-game winning streak snapped last year in the national semifinals in Dallas, will make a return engagement, playing Notre Dame, an 84-74 winner over Oregon, on Friday night at 9:30 in Columbus, Ohio.
Against South Carolina, the Huskies had 3-point shooting — they were 9-for-10 in the first half — the razzle-dazzle of Williams, who was named the region's Most Outstanding Player, and saw first team All-American Katie Lou Samuelson draw a pair of charging fouls in addition to completing a rare four-point play.
“We got beat by a really good UConn team. Obviously, we didn't have enough to compete in the way that we would have liked to,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said, then adding with perhaps a hint of sarcasm, “but now all is well in women's basketball.”
UConn coach Geno Auriemma referred to it as “individual brilliance” by Dangerfield and Williams, who were seated next to him on the dais late Monday, not long after after the Huskies celebrated by unleashing a hailstorm of confetti on Auriemma during his postgame interview with ESPN's Holly Rowe.
Williams finished with 23 points on 11 of 16 shooting, with five rebounds and five assists and Dangerfield had 21 points with the five 3-pointers and six assists.
Samuelson added 17 points and seven assists to join Williams and Dangerfield on the all-tournament team, Napheesa Collier 16 points and seven rebounds and senior Kia Nurse had 11 points and five rebounds.
South Carolina's A'ja Wilson finished a distinguished South Carolina career with 27 points and eight rebounds and Alexis Jennings added 15 points. The Gamecocks returned only two starters from last year's national championship run.
“She made wide open shots. They were practice shots, with her feet set and no one really around her,” South Carolina's Staley said of Dangerfield. “If you watch them in warmups, those are the kind of shots they hit.”
“Coach was just really telling me to be aggressive,” Dangerfield said of the last few days. “Make plays for myself, make plays for my teammates.”
UConn was ahead 9-6 in the first quarter when Dangerfield hit her first 3-pointer, launching a 21-6 Huskies run. Nurse added a 3-pointer on the heels of Dangerfield's, Samuelson's four-point play — a 3-pointer and a free throw — made it 23-8 and Dangerfield put the finishing touches on the quarter with a 3 that beat the buzzer.
South Carolina never led. UConn stretched its advantage to 54-33 at halftime on a layup by Azurá Stevens from Dangerfield and led by as many as 32 on a basket by Williams with 49 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
“I'm excited for our team. I'm thrilled for these two up here,” Auriemma said of Williams and Dangerfield. “What they did was pretty remarkable. … For us, it's an opportunity to go back to where we felt like we didn't really give our best effort (last year).”
UConn lost a year ago to Mississippi State in overtime, 66-64 on a buzzer beater by Morgan William.
“I don't know, redemption. I don't know if it's the word,” Williams said. “But we definitely have something to prove.”
“I think the biggest thing in our mind is that we just have an opportunity to finish out the season the way that any team in the nation would want to do,” Nurse said. “It's a goal of ours that we want to accomplish … to have another chance to do that, we are going to make the most of the opportunity.” v.fulkerson@theday.com