The top team in women’s college basketball competes for the national title.
South Carolina, No. 1 overall, beat Louisville 72-59 to advance to the national title game for the first time since the Gamecocks won the national title in 2017.
Louisville cut South Carolina’s lead to six with just under 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter, but a crucial late game essentially ended the Cardinals’ chances of a comeback. Star South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston grabbed an offensive rebound with eight seconds to go and scored when she was fouled by All-ACC forward Emily Engstler. That was Engstler’s fourth foul and Boston made the free throw to cut South Carolina’s lead to nine before the break.
Engstler then fouled with 4:56 left while chasing a loose ball and leading South Carolina by nine points. The senior finished with 18 points and nine rebounds in her last collegiate game.
South Carolina will play for the national title after beating Louisville in the women’s Final Four on Friday night. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Boston was unstoppable for South Carolina in color and at times even drew triple teams. She finished with 23 points and 18 rebounds. It was her 29th double-double in 36 games for the Gamecocks this season and she put an exclamation point into the game with 3:11 left when she hit a three on her 48th attempt of the season.
Louisville looked overwhelmed early in the game as South Carolina went 11-2 up and multiple Cardinal shots missed the rim. But Louisville settled down as the first half progressed, even taking the lead once before trailing by six at halftime.
The Cardinals seemed to have another run in them as the third quarter ended with six straight points to cut the lead to 54-48. But Boston’s and-one proved that any hope of a comeback was a mirage.
South Carolina was dominant
The Gamecocks lost by a point to Stanford in the 2021 semifinals after Boston’s putback bounced off the rim on the buzzer. And the year before, South Carolina was the country’s No. 1 team before the NCAA tournament was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The story goes on
A national title Sunday night against Stanford or UConn will give South Carolina the almost indisputable claim that it is the best women’s basketball program currently underway. And there’s no disputing who was the best team all season.
South Carolina is 34-2 and its two losses to Missouri and Kentucky combined to three points. The Gamecocks have won all five of their NCAA tournament games to date with three or more possessions, and two of the wins have come with 30 or more points.
USC has been dominant throughout the tournament so far, despite making less than 40% of his shots in the first three rounds. But South Carolina shot 51% in a 30-point win over Creighton in the Elite Eight and shot 47% from the field against Louisville despite winning 6 of 17 from three.
South Carolina’s defense also did a great job taking the three away from Louisville’s offense. The Cardinals didn’t make a three-pointer until the final two minutes of the game and finished the game with just 1 of 8 behind the arc after going 36% on 560 tries in their last 33 games.