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If you wanted down-to-the-wire action, this year’s Final Four games disappointed. If you wanted to see greatness, South Carolina and UConn delivered. Both teams breezed through their semifinal games, blowing out Texas and UCLA to advance to the title game happening on Sunday.
Here is how the Gamecocks and the Huskies were able to win their Final Four games:
South Carolina is inevitable
They had their scares and fair share of losses this year; however, South Carolina has gotten, and continues to get, the job done when it matters. No. 1-seed South Carolina easily defeated No. 1-seed Texas on Friday, 74-57, to punch their ticket to the title game.
They’ll now have a chance at defending their title, and head coach Dawn Staley and the Gamecocks could win their fourth title if they can come out victorious on Sunday.
The South Carolina guards stepped up big in this one. Te-Hina Paopao scored 14 points, a team-high, while Bree Hall scored 13 in the win. Freshman Joyce Edwards led the bench with 13 points and had a game-high 11 rebounds. For Texas, Madison Booker scored 11 points and Jordan Lee had 16 points on 50 percent shooting, but it wasn’t enough to win the game.
During the opening minutes, the Longhorns were as smooth as butter. A Rori Harmon basket gave Texas a 10-2 lead, but South Carolina responded. MiLaysia Fulwiley and Edwards scored nine-straight to end the opening quarter and suddenly Texas’ lead was just one point.
The rest of the first half shifted in favor of the Gamecocks. South Carolina exchanged the lead back and forth with Texas, but during the closing minute, Paopao hit a 3-pointer and SC was up 38-35 at the break.
While the game could’ve gone either way, South Carolina is a team that knows how to close out opponents when they have a lead. The Gamecocks went on a 9-4 run to start the third quarter. With a heavy dose of Edwards, Paopap and Tessa Johnson, they continued their onslaught, scoring 11 points unanswered. Texas was unable to convert on their shots, scoring just nine points in the period.
With South Carolina up 58-44 to begin the fourth, it would take an epic collapse for the Gamecocks to lose. No such downfall happened, and after a Johnson 3-pointer midway through the quarter, the only thing left to do was wait for the clock to go triple zero.
UConn smothers UCLA
This game is a reminder that there are steps to success. Paige Bueckers and UConn have had heartbreak in the Final Four before, and UCLA as a program has never gotten this far, and it showed. The Huskies obliterated the Bruins. It was almost as if they were playing different sports. No. 2-seed UConn came here to play championship basketball, and No. 1-seed UCLA was more prepared for a casual night of charades.
“Credit to UConn. They were the aggressors. They played more purposefully. They played more connected. They were tougher than us tonight. They handed it to us.”
– UCLA head coach Cori Close pic.twitter.com/Rj7XFiJoH8
— UConn on SNY (@SNYUConn) April 5, 2025
The Huskies won 85-51, making this the largest win margin in Final Four history.
Bueckers played well, scoring 16 points, and Azzi Fudd dropped 19, but Sarah Strong stole the show. She had 22 points and eight rebounds in the win.
The Bruins left Lauren Betts by herself, and she did her best to lead UCLA to glory. She scored 26 points, and Gabriela Jaquez did a good job cleaning up the glass with eight rebounds, but they never truly threatened in this contest.
This game started with buckets by Fudd and Strong, which was an indicator of the storm they were bringing UCLA’s way. UConn was up by double figures after a Fudd 3, and it only took them eight minutes to get to that advantage. Bueckers scored a buzzer-beating midrange basket, and the Huskies were up 23-13 after one quarter of play.
In the second quarter, UConn blew this game wide open. The Huskies went on multiple runs while the Bruins struggled to score. Fudd hit a 3-pointer to end the half, giving UConn a 20-point lead.
When play resumed, UConn kept piling on, scoring the first four points of the third quarter. Betts finally gave UCLA their first field goal of the second half at the 7:35 mark. The inside-outside game was working marvelously for the Huskies.
That, along with their defense forcing 19 total turnovers, meant the Bruins couldn’t get into a rhythm or threaten a comeback in this game. Strong scored the last five points for UConn in the third, and the result was a foregone conclusion.
With UConn up 60-37 at the start of the fourth we got an unprecedented 10 minutes of garbage time during a Final Four game. The Huskies’ starters came out of the game midway through the fourth, and the Bruins took out their key players with 2:32 left to play.
Key takeaways
UConn and South Carolina are the Final Two, and now we get the ending many anticipated, with South Carolina defending their title and Bueckers fighting to win that elusive championship she’s been chasing her entire collegiate career.
Will Bueckers get that storybook ending, or will she join players like Caitlin Clark who have fallen short of the ultimate goal because the Gamecocks exist? We’ll all find out together on Sunday.
