Mississippi St., Louisville reach women’s Final Four
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mississippi State’s Vic Schaefer was in no hurry to talk about returning to the Final Four, instead spending the first few minutes on the dais quietly circling the highlights on the box score.
There were plenty of them.
Teaira McCowan had 23 points and 21 rebounds, Victoria Vivans added 24 points, and top-seeded Mississippi State held on after blowing most of its big lead to beat third-seeded UCLA 89-73 on Sunday night and earn a repeat trip to the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.
The Bulldogs will meet another No. 1 seed in Louisville on Friday night in Columbus, Ohio.
“They’ve lived all year with a bulls-eye on their backs. That’s hard to do, y’all,” said Schaefer, who arrived at the postgame news conference with the net draped around his neck.
“These kids,” their coach added, “are special.”
Morgan William added 17 points, and Roshunda Johnson had 12 for the Bulldogs (36-1), who extended their school record for wins in a season. Now, the task is to go one step further than Mississippi State did last year, when it fell to South Carolina in the national title game.
“I just had a real confidence today,” Schaefer said. “The TV crew made a comment, ‘Coach, this is the most chill I’ve seen you.’ I just had a real confidence.” Jordin Canada led the relentless Bruins (27-8) with 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists, despite playing much of the game with a sprained elbow. Japreece Dean ad 16 points, and Monique Billings and Kennedy Burke had 12 apiece, most of it as the Bruins were rallying from a 50-32 hole.
They closed within 74-68 on Dean’s 3-pointer with 2:53 left, but they couldn’t get a stop on the defensive end. Instead, the Bruins and Bulldogs traded basket-for-basket down the stretch.
Mississippi State finally pulled away from the foul line in the final minute.
LOUISVILLE 76, OREGON ST. 43
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Louisville players proudly strutted around the court in championship T-shirts and hats, some adorned with a little piece of the net.
Cardinals coach Jeff Walz brushed off confetti dumped on him during an interview to climb the ladder and clip the rest of the nylon, happily twirling it to celebrate his top-seeded team’s dominant run through the NCAA Tournament Lexington regional.
“It’s a great feeling,” Walz said. “I’m going to go home, and my 4 1/2-yearold and my 2 1/2-year-old (daughters), all they’re going to talk about is the confetti on the floor. That’s all they care about. To them, if we win, there’s confetti on the floor that I get to play on.”
Louisville’s next quest is collecting another net and more confetti in next weekend’s women’s Final Four in Columbus, Ohio.
Asia Durr scored 18 points, Myisha Hines-Allen added 16 and Louisville earned its first Final Four berth since 2013 with a 7643 rout of No. 6 seed Oregon State on Sunday in the Lexington Region final.
Playing its first regional final in four years and for the first time in school history as an NCAA No. 1 seed, the Cardinals (36-2) thoroughly ran the table while playing close to home. They never trailed in rolling to their 11th consecutive victory.
They outscored the Beavers 28-12 in the third quarter to break the game open and complete their fourgame run through the regional by an average margin of victory of 27.5 points. Louisville controlled the paint 32-18 and scored 24 points off 17 turnovers against an Oregon State squad that succeeded with precise passing.
Even more impressive for Louisville: the Cardinals committed just three turnovers to tie an NCAA Tournament record.