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Mechelle VoepelESPN.com
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- Mechelle Voepel covers the WNBA, women’s collegiate basketball and other collegiate sports for espnW. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984 and has been with ESPN since 1996.
MINNEAPOLIS — The team that has ranked No. 1 in women’s basketball since the start of this season, South Carolina, will play for the NCAA championship on Sunday.
The Gamecocks, the No. 1 overall, defeated another No. 1, Louisville, 72-59 at the Target Center in Friday’s women’s Final Four.
South Carolina (34-2) will be in the NCAA Finals for the second time in program history. The Gamecocks won the 2017 national championship game. South Carolina lost in the SEC Finals last month with a late 3-point win by Kentucky but will now be in contention for the title that means the most to him.
“I think we had instances late in the season where we didn’t do business in the fourth quarter,” said South Carolina coach Dawn Staley. “So I know it’s in the back of our players’ minds. It was in the back of my mind. And we were, I think, nine before the fourth quarter and I’m just like, ‘OK, let’s go. ‘
“I think with anything, in life in general, it’s going to throw tests at you. You must pass the tests or you must repeat them. I thought we were put in positions where we failed the test — against Kentucky — and they made us pay for it. And we had other instances during the tournament where we faced that and we took it to another level.
Turning it up another notch is exactly what the Gamecocks did on Friday.
South Carolina junior post player Aliyah Boston watched her double-double streak end at 27 in the Gamecocks’ Elite Eight win over Creighton. But she immediately got back into the double-double business on Friday, finishing with 23 points and 18 rebounds. She also had four assists and looked like someone who has won every International Player of the Year award to date.
“I’m really blessed with the awards,” Boston said. “But my main focus is bringing home a national championship on Sunday night, so I’m really fixated on that.”
Boston, who also won the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year honor, anchored a Gamecocks defense that made things difficult for Louisville, who finished their season 29-5.
Boston was in tears after last year’s 66-65 domestic semifinal loss to Stanford, in which she missed a game-winning putback just before the buzzer. She’s seen video of her tortured reaction far too many times since then and has spoken of her determination not to experience anything like it again in the Final Four.
“When we thought about last year’s season, we just knew we had fallen short,” said Boston, who shed “happy tears” after the game. “But we didn’t think about it any further because we knew this was a new team. We have a lot more depth so we just have to come and play every night.”
However, Friday’s game wasn’t as dramatic as last year’s semifinals. South Carolina led 11-2 as the Gamecocks made five of their first 10 shots and the Cardinals only 1 of 6. And that largely set the tone for the rest of the game. Louisville made its runs, but South Carolina controlled the competition.
South Carolina led 17-10 after the first quarter, in which the Cardinals largely confined themselves to jumping shots. It was the first time the Cardinals had trailed after the opening quarter since Jan. 23 against Wake Forest.
However, the Cardinals fought back. At the 6:48 mark of the second quarter, forward Emily Engstler stole a pass and went for the layup, giving Louisville its first 20-19 lead.
At halftime, the Gamecocks were again up 34-28, led by eight points and eight rebounds from Boston. The good news for the Cardinals is that they were within six points despite guard Hailey Van Lith being limited to two points. The bad news is that Van Lith’s night didn’t get much better in the second half. After scoring at least 20 points in Louisville’s first four games of the NCAA tournament, she was limited to nine on Friday.
“They did a really good job of making it difficult for me to even get the ball,” said Van Lith. “They obviously didn’t want to let me touch them. They basically guarded me the whole game. I did Played a little passive with their length. I had to start earlier and be more aggressive, but they did a good job of executing their game plan with me.”
One of the players primarily responsible for limiting Van Lith was South Carolina guard Brea Beal, known for her defense.
“I think it’s just a mentality to have every single game,” said Beal. “You can’t just turn it on and off whenever you want. Right now you just have to tune in and know what your job is to do offensively and defensively.”
Engstler conceded her fourth foul in the third quarter with 4.2 seconds to go, after which the Gamecocks led 57:48. Then the Syracuse transfer, which brought so much energy to the Cardinals this season, fouled 4:56 into the game and buried its head in its hands on the Louisville bench. In her last collegiate game – she was drafted into the upcoming WNBA draft – she had 18 points and nine rebounds.
South Carolina had four other players alongside Boston who scored in double figures: Brea Beal had 12 points, Destanni Henderson had 11, and Victaria Saxton and Zia Cooke had 10 each.
South Carolina will face either Stanford or UConn in the national championship game; The Gamecocks beat both teams in the regular season. Their win over UConn was 73-57 on November 22 in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game in the Bahamas. They defeated Stanford 65-61 on December 21 in Columbia, South Carolina.
“Is there an advantage? No. There is no advantage,” Staley said of beating both teams. “When you’re playing for a national championship, it’s the team that can get used to their habits quickly and stay there.”