Huskies Wallop South Carolina, Advance to 11th Straight Final Four

The Huskies celebrate after vanquishing South Carolina in the Albany
Region Final. Now, it's off to Columbus, OH, for an unprecedented 11th
straight appearance in the Final Four.

By Bob Phillips

ALBANY—To the surprise of no one, Gabby Williams led five Huskies in double digits with 23 points, and the University of Connecticut Huskies punched their ticket to the Final Four with a 94-65 victory over South Carolina before 9,522 fans at the Times Union Center on Monday night. Crystal Dangerfield added 21 points—19 coming in the first half, in which the Huskies built a 21-point cushion. It was a rare match-up of the previous two national champions.

Katie Lou Samuelson popped in 17 for the Huskies, while Napheesa Collier added 16, and Kia Nurse added 11. South Carolina’s A’ja Wilson led all scorers with 27 points (15 from beyond the arc) and Alexis Jennings added 15 for the Gamecocks, who were shooting for their second straight national title.

The Huskies took command of the contest early, hitting nine of their first 14 shots—including 5-for-6 from beyond the arc—to take an 18-point lead, 30-12, at the first turn.

With the loss, the Gamecocks end their season with a 29-7 record. The Huskies, meanwhile, improve to 36-0.

“To get back to Final Four... I mean, every team starts their season and says, that's our goal, to go to the Final Four. So for us, it's an opportunity to go back to where we felt like we didn't really give our best effort [last season],” said Husky head coach Geno Auriemma, referring to last year’s loss to these same Gamecocks. “You know, we lost to a really good team, but it happened in a way that was really, really disappointing, and I know that we were really anxious to go back and put ourselves in that same situation, and see how much we've changed since last year.

“We got beat by a really good UConn team,” said South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley, the former Virginia star who has had plenty of experience competing with the Huskies as a player and coach. Staley also played in the old ABL and the WNBA, and succeeds Auriemma as head coach of the United States National Team. She will coach the U.S. team at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. “Obviously we didn't have enough to compete in the way that we would have liked to, but now all is well in women's basketball.”

The Huskies now head to Columbus, OH, where they will take on arch-rival Notre Dame in the national semifinal game on Friday night. The Irish topped Oregon, 84-74, in the Spokane Region final. Tip-off at the Nationwide Arena is slated for 9:30 p.m., and the game will be televised on ESPN2 and streamed on WatchESPN. Mississippi State and Louisville will play in the first semifinal at 7 p.m. That game will also be televised on The Deuce and streamed on ESPN3/WatchESPN.

This will be the Huskies’ unprecedented 11^th consecutive trip to the Final Four. Think about that for a second. When Connecticut started its streak in Tampa in 2008, Maya Moore, Tina Charles, Renee Montgomery and Charde Houston were the stars of the team, George W. Bush was nearing the end of his second term as President, Barack Obama was the junior senator from Illinois, and Donald J. Trump was… well, we won’t go there.

Light years ago in college basketball terms.

Notes:

• This was the first time the previous two national champions met in the NCAAs since 1997 when UConn lost to Tennessee. It had happened twice before that.
• It was the second time UConn and South Carolina met this season. The Huskies topped the Gamecocks, 83-58, at the Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, SC, on Feb. 1.
• Albany had the best attendance of the four regionals, with over 10,000 fans attending on Friday night for the semifinals and 9,522 on Monday night. That two-day total easily eclipsed the 15,949 from 2015 when Albany last hosted the regional. “The attendance is a result of a lot of hard work by people in the community who are interested in seeing women's basketball develop to a higher level in Albany,” MAAC commissioner Rich Ensor said. It’s also a result of New York’s capital city being within driving distance of the Nutmeg State.
• Albany will host again next year.

—with staff reports