The histories of the teams in the 2017 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four vary considerably. Connecticut is making its 10th consecutive Final Four, and Stanford is there for the seventh time in the last decade. By contrast, South Carolina is making the program’s second appearance, and Mississippi State has reached unchartered territory by making its first Final Four.
Stanford punched its ticket to the Final Four in dramatic fashion with a 76-75 win over Notre Dame. Stanford’s Alanna Smith hit the go-ahead basket with 23 seconds left. The top-seeded Irish were denied the game-winning shot in the final seconds when Erica McCall blocked Akire Ogunbowale’s shot.
The teams battled back and forth in the final quarter with six ties and 12 lead changes in the period. To get to that point, the second-seeded Cardinal stormed back from a 16-point deficit in the third quarter.
“It took us a while to get going,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said, according to ESPN.com. “But then when we got going, we were charging down that stretch and came across that finish line.”
The Cardinal is in the Final Four for the 13th time overall.
Mississippi State also won with a spectacular finish. The Bulldogs, the No. 2 seed, defeated No. 1 Baylor 94-85 in overtime. The game featured 24 lead changes. Morgan William shined down the stretch and finished with a career-high 41 points. She scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and 12 in overtime.
The Bears lost in the Elite Eight for the fourth straight season.
No. 1 South Carolina clinched its second trip to the Final Four in the last three years with a 71-64 win over No. 3 Florida State. The Gamecocks saw their double-digit lead evaporate when the Seminoles pulled within three in the closing minutes.
Kaela Davis led the way for South Carolina with 23 points.
The Gamecocks join their men’s basketball team by representing the school at the Final Four this year.
UConn, the overall No. 1 seed, had no problem ending the improbable run of No. 10 Oregon with a 90-52 rout of the Ducks. The Huskies shot 54.5 percent for the game and forced 22 turnovers. They had 21 assists to just six turnovers.
UConn’s Napheesa Collier scored 28 points and reached the 1,000 career point plateau. Teammate Gabby Williams had 25 points.
Connecticut, who has won 111 games in a row, is in its 18th Final Four – tied for most all-time with Tennessee.
“There were a lot of question marks going into the season and maybe they didn’t have any in their own minds,” Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma said, according to ESPN.com. “They seemed to answer every single one of those questions. They deserve to be in the Final Four. They earned it.”
Looking ahead:
The stage is now set for the Final Four in Dallas. Stanford takes on South Carolina in the first semifinal March 31 at 7:30 p.m. Later in the night, Connecticut faces Mississippi State. This game will be a rematch of from last year’s tournament, when the Huskies beat the Bulldogs by 60 in the Sweet 16.
If Stanford and UConn prevail in the semifinals, the championship game will pit sister vs. sister. The Cardinal has senior Karlie Samuelson, and the Huskies feature sophomore Katie Lou Samuelson.