The top team in women’s college basketball will play for the national title.
No. 1 overall seed South Carolina 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 four with just seconds remaining in the third quarter but a crucial play at the end of the half essentially ended the Cardinals’ chances of a comeback. Star South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston grabbed an offensive rebound with eight seconds left and scored as she was fouled by All-ACC forward Emily Engstler. That was Engstler’s fourth foul and Boston made the free throw to push South Carolina’s lead to nine before the break.
Engstler then fouled out with 4:56 to go while she chased a loose ball and South Carolina had a nine-point lead. The senior finished the game with 18 points and nine rebounds in her final college game.
Boston was unstoppable for South Carolina in the paint and even drew triple teams at times. She finished with 23 points and 18 rebounds. It was her 29th double-double in 36 games for the Gamecocks this season and put an exclamation mark on the game with 3:11 to go when she hit a three on just her 48th attempt of the season.
Louisville looked overmatched to start the game as South Carolina jumped out to an 11-2 lead and multiple Cardinal shots failed to hit the rim. But Louisville calmed down as the first half went on and even took the lad at one point before trailing by six at halftime.
The Cardinals appeared to have another run in them as the third quarter closed 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.