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| Katie Lou Samuelson lets her freak flag fly after draining a key trey in the fourth quarter of the Huskies' 80-73 win over Louisville. |
ALBANY—It has
come to be in any sports word-association game, the terms “UConn Women’s
Basketball” and “Final Four” have become synonymous. After all, coming into the season the Huskies
had appeared in 11 straight Final Fours. Now, make that 12.
All five Husky starters scored in double digits, as Connecticut
avenged one of only two regular-season losses with an 80-73 win over Louisville
in the Albany Region Final. Katy Lou Samuelson led all scorers with 29 points, while
Cristyn Williams dropped in 16, Megan Walker had 13, Napheesa Collier 12 and
Crystal Dangerfield 10 for the Huskies, who improved to 35-2 overall and advanced
to the Final Four for the 20th time in the program’s storied history. UConn was the No. 2 seed in the Albany region,
while Louisville was No. 1. It was the Got that chip off their shoulder.Samuelson, affectionately known simply as “Lou” by Husky Nation, was particularly deadly from beyond the three-point arc. The 6-3 senior from Fullerton, Calif., was 7-for-13 from downtown. Indeed, she made just one bucket (1-for-1) from inside the three-point line. She was also 8-for-9 from the charity stripe.
“She made some shots today that only really special players make
at this particular time,” UConn head coach Geno
Auriemma said. “This is when players separate
themselves in these games.”
“I wanted to keep my career going,” said Samuelson. “I had to step
up. They were really making it hard for us, so I had to do what I could.”
Did she ever. In fact, Lou accounted for half (seven) of the
Huskies’ made three-pointers, including many key shots in the fourth quarter,
when the Cardinals mounted a furious challenge.
The Huskies led 22-16 at the first turn, and entered the locker
room leading by seven, 41-34, at intermission. But the Cardinals weren’t about to go away without a fight, and chopped
three points off the UConn lead in the third period. The Huskies increased
their advantage to 11 before Louisville made one more charge that ultimately
came up short.
With the Huskies up by just two, 75-73, Lou banged in two from the
free-throw line to make it a two-possession game with just 26.3 seconds left in
regulation. The Cardinals’ Asia Durr had a chance to cut the lead in half when
she was fouled a few seconds later, but she missed both freebies. Napheesa
Collier then drew a foul after the Cardinals missed an chance at an offensive
rebound, and calmly drained both shots.
Game, set, match. Pack your bags for Tampa where the Huskies will
face the winner of tonight’s Great Eight match-up between arch-rival Notre Dame
and Sanford, looking to regain past greatness. Regardless of who the opponent
may be, there can be no argument that the Huskies’ current Final Four run is
nothing short of remarkable.
"I don't think it's supposed to happen," Auriemma said
of the incredible run. "Not in today's world the way things change and
teams keep getting better and better. It's not normal. It's something that's
hard to describe because even if you're writing a book and making it up, people
would say it doesn't happen in real life. It has happened in real life, I'm
still boggled, my mind doesn't get how it can happen this many years in a row
with a different cast of characters that change so often. No it's not normal,
it's not normal.
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| And now it's on to Tampa Bay for the Huskies! (Photo courtesy Stephen Slade) |
“There's a lot that goes into trying to do this,” continued Auriemma.” You have to be a great team to go to the Final Four. That's always
been the case, and especially tonight. I knew it was going to turn out to be
either Asia Durr, or somebody on our team that would step up for us to have a
great night.
“In these games, that's always what happens. There's no
trick offenses or trick defenses you're going to come up with or run any fancy
plays. At this time of year in these big games, either one of their guys or one
of our guys is going to be the difference, and tonight it happened to be Lou.
“I don't know what to say about our entire team's performance. It was pretty special.”
“I don't know what to say about our entire team's performance. It was pretty special.”
For UConn's two seniors, Samuelson and Collier, it will the the fourth straight trip to the Final Four. UConn has not won it all since their freshman year, however. Samuelson, for one, is committed to change that this season and go out a winner.
"It's amazing just to be part of this program, just to wear
this name on our chest every day," she said. "You know you're
part of something special. And they've created something amazing here. And for
us we just want to be part of that and keep it going as long as we can."
Louisville, which ended its season at 32-4, was looking to become
only the second team to beat UConn twice in a season in the past decade. (The
other was fellow ACC school Notre Dame, which did it twice (2012 and 2013). And
obviously, the Huskies could face the Irish in the Final Four in Tampa if Notre
Dame beats Stanford in the Chicago Regional final tonight (9 p.m. ET tip-off,
ESPN2). And be careful what you wish for. Should the Irish advance, they will
be looking to avenge an 89-71 thrashing by the Huskies on their home court in
early December in the Jimmy V. Women’s Classic in early December.
—with staff reports
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