Boston leads Gamecocks past Huskies in rematch
HARTFORD, Conn. — In a rematch of the championship game from last year’s NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament, South Carolina came out on top again thanks to a strong fourth quarter by Aliyah Boston.
The 6-foot-5 South Carolina senior scored 23 of her 26 points in the second half, including 14 in the final quarter, to help the No. 1 Gamecocks beat the fifth-ranked University of Connecticut 81-77 on Sunday in front of a sellout crowd of 15,564 at the XL Center — the Huskies’ home away from home when they’re not playing in Storrs. The game was also nationally televised by Fox.
“Aliyah is just relentless, she plays relentlessly. Although she had a subpar (first half) as far as statistics, she impacted the game,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “She doesn’t get flustered. She knew she didn’t play up to her standards. What does she do? Raise her standard. Bad first half or not, she’s going to continue to play.”
While there wasn’t as much on the line as there was last April in Minneapolis, where South Carolina won 64-49 in the NCAA final, there was a high intensity to the rematch, including UConn coach Geno Auriemma spiking a water bottle onto the court late in the fourth quarter after getting frustrated by the officiating.
“I thought there were a lot of things being overlooked. It was difficult for some of our guys to move out on the floor,” said Auriemma. “I didn’t think it was one key play, I just couldn’t keep quiet any longer. It was bad. … Dumb mistake by me. Bad decision.”
Despite being hit hard by injuries this season, the Huskies (21-3) had won 14 games in a row, with Sunday’s loss their first since early December. Aaliyah Edwards led them with 25 points against South Carolina.
The Gamecocks (23-0) have won 29 consecutive games since losing to Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference tournament title game last year. They have won four of the past five meetings with the Huskies, including the win that ended the 11-time NCAA champions’ perfect record in title games.
“This was a national championship-like game,” Staley said. “I wanted us to feel what it takes to do this.”
And now South Carolina finally has its first win in Connecticut against the Huskies, who lead the overall series 9-4.
South Carolina used its size again to top the Huskies. Kamilla Cardoso, who’s 6-7, and Boston, the reigning AP women’s basketball player of the year, helped the Gamecocks have a 42-30 advantage in rebounds. South Carolina had 25 offensive rebounds, while UConn had 10.
Boston finished with 11 rebounds for the 76th doubledouble of her Gamecocks career. Cardoso totaled 17 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with 1:20 to play.
With her team leading by four in the fourth quarter, Boston took over by scoring the next 12 points for South Carolina, and two of those came when Auriemma tossed the water onto the court and was charged with the technical foul. After hitting the two free throws, Boston then hit a jumper, a 3-pointer and another basket to give the Gamecocks a double-digit advantage.
“I’m kind of in attack mode.
In the second half I made more shots then I did in the first half,” Boston said.
Despite having their starting backcourt foul out, the shorthanded Huskies — they started the game with eight healthy players, and South Carolina’s bench outscored their reserves 37-0 — wouldn’t go away. They whittled the lead to 80-77 with 10.8 seconds left on Aubrey Griffin’s three-point play.
South Carolina’s Raven Johnson hit the first of two free throws a second later, though, and UConn couldn’t convert to close out the game.
“They have a lot to feel good about once they get past what it feels like to lose,” Auriemma said. “I feel better at 3 o’clock today then I did at 12 o’clock. I didn’t know how we’d respond. I knew we’d play hard and compete like hell. I didn’t know who was going to make a big play, who was going to get a big rebound, make a big shot. I know now more than I did at noon, and I feel better about my team.”
UConn got off to a solid start, outscoring South Carolina 25-14 in the first quarter. Lou Lopez Senechal capped the strong start, hitting a running 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
South Carolina asserted its size in the second quarter as Cardoso scored 11 points in the period. Her putback baskett with just less than 10 seconds left tied the game at 34 heading into halftime.
The Huskies, who fell to 8-10 all-time against No. 1 teams, are still missing guards Azzi Fudd (knee) and Caroline Ducharme (concussion) as well as Paige Bueckers (knee) and Ice Brady (knee), who are both out for the season.
South Carolina is 41-6 against ranked teams since the start of the 2019-20 season.