The Guru’s NCAAW Tourney Report: Defending Champion South Carolina Avoids Upset While UCLA Wins First NCAA Elite Eight to Fill Half the Final Four Field

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

The first half combo of this weekend’s Women’s Final Four in Tampa, Fla., that checked in Sunday afternoon can be labelled the way callers greet sports talk show hosts – first time, long time.

And that could easily continue when the other two national semifinalists are determined Monday night.

First up on the docket in a tightly fought contest in the Birmingham (Ala.) Region 2 title game easily now crossing the Rubicam as long time were the defending champs South Carolina, the top seed (overall No. 2) and second ranked outfit under Dawn Staley that rallied and held off second seed and seventh ranked Duke 54-50.

A few hours later overall No. 1 seed and top ranked UCLA in the Spokane (Wash.) Region 1 championship went up double digits before denying a short-falling rally by three seed and 10th-ranked LSU (31-6) to emerge 72-65 for the Bruins’ first-time trip to NCAA Women’s Final Four appearance in the 43-year history of the tournament.

The outcome gained revenge for losing to the Tigers last season in the Sweet 16 in Albany, N.Y.

When UCLA (34-2) thrashed South Carolina 77-62 last November the Bruins ended an unbeaten Gamecocks (34-3) run through last season and into the meeting at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles followed less than 24 hours later by evicting them from the Penthouse to earn their first-ever No. 1 ranking.

They stayed on top for 12 weeks until their cross-town rival Southern California beat them, ultimately twice, for the regular-season Big Ten title in their first season in the league after bolting the collapsing PAC-12 but got revenge a week later after the second loss winning the conference championship and returning to the top.

On Monday off the title game of Spokane Region 4, a fourth meeting could be in play for this weekend for the Tinsel Town schools in Tampa in the semifinals pending the outcome of the 9 p.m. clash on ESPN between No. 1 and fourth-ranked USC (31-3) and No. 2 and third-rank UConn (31-3), which upset the Trojans 80-73 in the same round last season but lost to them for the first time 72-70 in a game back in December in Hartford.

With only two sites in the regional rounds, the number placement corresponds to how the top seeds lined up in the original 68-team bracket announced the night of Selection Sunday and how they would match in the semifinals in Tampa.

There’s no re-seeding in the tournament as there is in the WNBA playoffs in the pros thus if a high seed is eliminated the advancing seed fills that next slot as the tournament continues.

The Spokane game will occur after the 7 p.m. contest for the Birmingham Region 3 crown between No. 1 and fifth-ranked Texas (34-3) and No. 2 and sixth ranked TCU (34-3).

The winner meets South Carolina which Texas split with during the Longhorns’ first season in the SEC after leaving the Big 12 with Oklahoma and were routed by the Gamecocks in the league championship.

TCU was given the same treatment from the Staley crew in a non-league game early in the season in Fort Worth, Texas.

Sunday, however, was the third straight game the South Carolina bunch were escape artists after challenged back home seven days ago in Columbia in the first half by Indiana in round two and extended until late in Friday’s Sweet 16 game, eventually winning 71-67 over fourth seed Maryland (25-8).

Against the Blue Devils (29-8), the Gamecocks held a slim two-point lead with 29.8 seconds left in regulation. Bree Hall of the defending champs was assessed an offensive foul, giving Duke a chance to tie.

Ashlon Jackson, who had 13 points and drew the charge, went for the lead shooting from deep, but Hall was all over her causing a miss on the attempt and then Hall grabbed the rebound sending her team heading for its fifth straight Final Four attempting a back-to-back championship, third in the last four years and fourth overall.

Chloe Kitts sealed the win with two from the line with five seconds left.

“I don't know if it could have happened anymore perfect,” Hall said. “Because it was literally like I messed up down there on offense and then turned around and got the ball back on defense. I was very happy.”

Kitts, who scored 14 and was regional MVP, had missed a pair late in the third with Duke up five, but Staley drew a play for her with Duke being forced to foul.

Duke, coached by former Tennessee star Kara Lawson, got her team back into contention with a strong defense.

The Gamecocks used an 8-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter to go ahead on a shot by Oregon transfer Te-Hina Paopao.

“I thought (Duke) forced us into taking some bad shots that almost ended our season,” Staley said. “But at the end of the day, I thought when we had to make plays off of broken sets, we did it in the fourth quarter, and I think that was the difference between them coming back and building the lead and us bearing down and making sure we win those broken play battles.”

When things had gotten tight MiLaysia Fulwiley had pushed her teammates pointing out their veteran advantage over Duke, whose star ACC freshman of the year Toby Fournier had a game-high 18 points with six boards and three blocks but was on the bench when Staley’s upper-class players were on the floor, a moved Lawson said was hers.

“We just were telling each other, ‘We have to fight,’” Fulwiley said. “We have to win. ‘These teams don’t understand how to win at this level, at this time in March. They haven’t been here before. I told them ‘Y’all have been here before. Y’all know what to do. Y’all know how to win and how not to lose. Just go out there and show that.’”

Sania Fagin added 12 points for South Carolina.

Lawson said she didn’t think Duke’s early deficit impacted the Blue Devils much considering they were ahead by four points at the outset of the fourth quarter.

“Like they always say, the other guys are good, too. The other guys are going to score, too. The other guys are good, too. You don't pitch shutouts.

 “I thought our team played hard. We defended at a high level, at a level well enough to advance. Our offense was not at a level high enough and certainly late it wasn't. That I think was the difference in the game.”

UCLA’s Lauren Betts didn’t make it three straight tournament games scoring 30 but was dominant enough scoring 17 points with seven boards while Gabriela Jaquez was one better scoring 18 with eight rebounds.

LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson scored 28 and now has 48 hours to decide whether to return or go into the WNBA draft.

Aneesah Morrow had 15 points and seven boards while Mikaylah Williams scored 10 with seven boards and Sa’Myah Smith grabbed 10 boards.

While UCLA is two wins from a first NCAA title, the Bruins in 1978 were national champions winning at home led by four-time all-American Ann Myers-Drysdale in the first year the AIAW went with a Final Four format.

“To do something we haven't done in a really long time or in the NCAA era, I'm just so just really proud, proud of my teammates, the staff, the coaches of just continuing to get better every day and grow from each season prior and,” Jaquez said afterwards. “I just don't even have words, just so proud.”

Since the loss to LSU, the Bruins’ goal of improvement was getting tougher and dealing in chaos when it occurs in a game.

“The game was won in the poise and the choice to go back to neutral, get ourselves refocused, and make the next right step,” UCLA coach Cori Close said.  “That’s where I think the game was won.”

The Bruins darted to a 14-point lead midway in the third before momentum swung to LSU rallying to within three points under the four-minute mark.

Jaquez had a personal best four from deep while Timea Gardiner made five, making it the first time in 25 years a UCLA duo each made four or better from beyond the arc.

“If You would have said, ‘Hey, you're going to win this game by hitting 10 threes,’ I would have told you, you're crazy,” Close said.

Betts got into early foul trouble, a first for her in an opening period, and was forced to the bench the rest of the half.

But in the next quarter the Bruins, propelled by Gardiner making three of her long ones, out-dueled LSU 14-4 and were up six points at the half.

“The game was lost in the second quarter,” LSU coach Kim mulkey said. “That’s where the game was lost. We didn't capitalize on Betts being off the floor.”

 Added Betts, “I don't have to be in the game at all times. I have a team full of players who are just amazing and talented in their own right, and they put in the work. So, I knew that as I was sitting there... They have my back.”

Kiki Rice dealt eight assists for the winners.

Looking Ahead

Southern Cal is trying to advance to the Trojans’ first Final Four since the end of the Cheryl Miller era in 1986 without the injured JuJu Watkins, the dynamic national player of the year who suffered a tournament-ending ACL right-knee injury five minutes into the second round home win at the Galen Center last Monday night against Mississippi State.

Miller led USC to back-too-back titles in 1983 and 1984 and then in the championship two years later lost to Texas, which at 34-0 became the first NCAA winner unbeaten.

The Trojans, with the No. 1 freshmen class, were given hope to continue off their newcomers’ performance Saturday over Kansas State as Kayleigh Heckel, Avery Howell, and Kennedy Smith combined for 45 points.

And on the other bench UConn graduate Paige Bueckers is looking to extend her collegiate career a few more games for what would be her first title and the Huskies’ extended record 12th.

Ever since Hall of Fame longtime coach Geno Auriemma’s squad blasted South Carolina in the Gamecocks’ Colonial Life Arena in early February UConn’s prospects have accelerated, given the Watkins injury and Bueckers scoring 34 points in the second round and 40 Saturday night in the win over Oklahoma.

The native of Minnesota is likely to go to the Dallas Wings next month as the overall No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft.

“You try not to think about the stakes or the pressure or getting to the Final Four,” Bueckers said. “Obviously, that's there, so you try not to think about it and just go out and play every single game the same way, like it's your last, like it's the most important 40 minutes of your life.”

USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said, “Paige has been an incredible player for years now. She does it efficiently. It's her ability to score, her ability to pass and involve others to move without the basketball. I think what we're seeing is a little different now.

“It's an urgency, right? Not that she's not been urgent before, but you see it in her face there's no more waiting. It can't be ‘OK, next time.’ “It’s right now.”

Bueckers, named national player of the year as a freshman, can relate to Watkins’ injury having missed a portion her sophomore year, her entire year in 2023, but then leading the Huskies to the finals last year before losing to Iowa and Caitlin Clark in a season a slew of her other teammates were injured.

Looking back, Bueckers said, “ I know last year, a huge part of my journey was wanting to inspire people who have gone through terrible injuries, devastating blows, that you can come back better and stronger and nobody can write you off, nobody can put you in a box to the injury related narratives.

“You can break all those narratives, and you can come back better than ever mentally, physically, emotionally.”

In the Birmingham Region 3 matchup, while Texas is loaded led by SEC player of the year Madison Booker and senior Rori Harmon, TCU off its break-thru to the Elite Eight and turnaround under Mark Campbell to win the Big 12 could be the closest to a Cinderella still alive but that would be a mis-read with the likes of Sedonna Prince, an Oregon transfer, and Hailey Van Lith, the first men’s or women’s player suiting up in five straight Elite Eight games with three different teams – Louisville, last year LSU, and now Louiville.

She scored 26 points in Saturday’s elimination of Notre Dame.

Rutgers Ousted at Buffalo in WNIT

  After getting the Big Ten’s automatic spot, drawing a bye and getting two home wins the Scarlet Knights’ 13-20 season came to an end, losing in the WNIT’ Great Eight round 71-64 at Buffalo (28-7) of the Mid-American Conference.

Destiny Adams, one of the bright spots this season, scored 26 points with 13 boards while JoJo Lacey scored 16.

The Bulls’ Chellia Watson scored 28.