NCAAW: South Carolina, UCLA advance to the Final Four

On Sunday, two teams clinched their places in the Final Four.

No. 1-seed South Carolina overcame No. 2-seed Duke, 54-50, and No. 1-seed UCLA defeated No. 3-seed LSU, 72-65. Now, both teams will head to Tampa Bay with hopes of winning it all.

Here is a recap on how the Gamecocks and Bruins were able to win their Elite Eight games:

South Carolina makes fifth-straight Final Four

South Carolina was pushed to the limit by Duke but prevailed, beating them 50-54.

Chloe Kitts didn’t shoot well, going 3-for-8 from the field, but she found ways to be effective offensively. She ended the game with a team-high 14 points and went 7-for-10 from the charity stripe. Kitts had the last field goal for the Gamecocks and converted on her final two free throws to ice the game.

Sania Feagin also came to play. She had 12 points and grabbed eight boards in the win. Sophomore phenom MiLaysia Fulwiley scored a bench-high five points. Toby Fournier kept Duke in this game, scoring 18 points and rejecting three South Carolina shots. With Ashlon Jackson contributing 13 points, they stayed in the game until the closing seconds.

South Carolina had some dominant runs throughout the game, but Duke always answered back. In the third quarter, the Blue Devils momentarily took control thanks to a Taina Mair 3-pointer. Entering the fourth quarter, South Carolina trailed by four before going on an 8-0 run to regain control of the contest. Te-Hina Paopao made some key plays down the stretch, but it was the Kitts’ show as she scored eight of South Carolina’s final 10 points to close out Duke.

UCLA cuts down the nets with Betts

The Bruins’ game against the Tigers had the makings of a Hollywood movie. There were stars like Lauren Betts on UCLA’s side and Aneesah Morrow and Flau’jae Johnson for LSU. When you also factor in this being a rematch of last year’s Sweet 16 game, you had a beautiful game ready to begin on Sunday.

This rematch delivered. Last year, LSU beat UCLA 78-69, but this time the Bruins got the best of the Tigers, winning 72-65.

All the stars stepped up and performed. Morrow, busted nose and all, scored 15 points for LSU, while Johnson scored a game-high 28 points. She also, yet again, got a block on Betts.

Despite getting her shot stuffed, Betts got the last laugh. UCLA won, she shot 50 percent from the field and scored 17 points. Gabriela Jaquez was superb in the backcourt for the Bruins with 18 points, only missing two shots. Timea Gardiner stepped up big off the bench with 15 of UCLA’s 22 reserve points.

UCLA jumped out to a 7-2 edge, but LSU was ahead 13-11 after one quarter of play. After that, it was all Bruins. They dominated the second period 22-12 and never looked back. In this game, UCLA was able to separate itself with superb outside shooting.

Betts will always bring it, but when her supporting cast steps up, that’s when UCLA becomes unbeatable. They shot almost 42 percent from deep, converting on 10 3-pointers. If they can keep that kind of play up for two more games, they’ll be cutting down nets again in Florida.