The University of Connecticut (UConn) Huskies and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks punched their ticket to the women’s final, still alive for a chance to be crowned the first Bad Boy Mowers Women’s Battle 4 Atlantis (B4A) Champion.
That championship game starts at noon today inside the Imperial Arena at Atlantis. It will be televised on ESPN. The game will feature two Hall of Fame coaches in the Huskies’ Geno Auriemma and the Gamecocks’ Dawn Staley. To see the two highest ranked teams in the Associated Press Rankings play against each other so early in the season adds to the prominence of tournament.
UConn and South Carolina last faced each other in February of this year, with the Huskies winning, 63-59, in overtime. Head to head, the Huskies hold a 9-1 win/loss record over the Gamecocks.
To get to this game, both teams won their semifinals yesterday afternoon at Atlantis. The number two ranked Huskies played a strong fourth quarter, taking down a pesky 23rd ranked University of South Florida Bulls team, 60-53, in the first game on Sunday.
The number one ranked Gamecocks used a strong first half and stingy defense to take down the number nine ranked University of Oregon Ducks, 80-63.
The Huskies were led by sophomore Paige Bueckers, with 21 points, and the top recruit in the 2020-2021 class, freshman Azzi Fudd, with 18 points. The former finished the game shooting 8-for-16 from the field and dished out seven assists. The latter, who came off the bench, shot 6-for-10 on the afternoon with all six made shots coming from deep.
Coming down to the end of the third quarter, from the 3:03 mark, the Bulls went on a 9-0 scoring run, to take a 45-42 lead. Bueckers made a key three-pointer with two seconds left in the third quarter to tie the game at 45 points.
Coming out the third period, Fudd connected on a three-pointer and Bueckers made a layup as the Huskies quickly took a 50-45 lead with 8:57 remaining in the game. That lead went to nine points at the 4:40 mark, as the Huskies went ahead 56-47. The lead shrunk no lower than seven points the rest of the way.
The Huskies’ defense was on full display in the fourth quarter as they held the Bulls to 30 percent shooting from the field. Offensively, the Huskies shot 50 percent from the field, including 42.9 percent from three-point range.
The Bulls were led by guard Elena Tsineke who scored 17 points.
Auriemma was impressed with his team’s hard work and stickability.
“Every time we play these guys, must be 20 to 25 times in eight years, it’s always the same. They grind it out. They run their stuff. They’re so disciplined. They’re so well-coached. Their kids all buy in, and they scream for each other, and defensively, they don’t give you anything inside. You have to make jump shots against them, and I thought that was a real gutty win for us,” said Auriemma.
It was a quick start for the Huskies in the first quarter as they quickly jumped out to a 6-0 lead with 7:18 remaining in the first quarter. By the end of the quarter, the Huskies held on to an 18-11 advantage. At the half, they held on to a 34-25 lead.
The Gamecocks showed why they are the number one ranked team in the country when they controlled the game early on against the Ducks. Maddie Scherr gave the Ducks the lead by scoring the first two points of the game. Destanni Henderson put the Gamecocks up 3-2 with 9:25 left in the first quarter. The Ducks went back up by one point before junior Zia Cooke put the Gamecocks up for good with a three-point shot.
Cooke scored a game-high 20 points for the Gamecocks. The Gamecocks led 19-8 with 4:40 left in the first quarter and held a 27-14 advantage at the end of that quarter.
Staley said she wants her team to keep playing well.
“We challenged our players to play a lot better than we played last night (Saturday),” said Staley. “They accepted the challenge and played well and that’s the way we have to play. Win, lose or draw, we want to play our best basketball on both sides of the ball, and I thought we had glimpses of it for long stretches in this game and we just have to complete it.”
The Gamecocks’ largest lead in the first half came at the 1:11 mark of the second quarter when Cooke made a layup to put them up 42-24. The Gamecocks held a 44-26 lead at the half.
Sania Feagin hit two free throws at the 4:28 mark of the fourth quarter to give the Gamecocks their largest lead of the afternoon – 29 points. The score was 78-49 at that point.
Staley emptied her bench as she used 14 players in the victory.
The Ducks’ scoring was led by Chanaya Pinto and Phillipina Kyei with 12 points each.
The tournament got underway on Saturday. To get to this point, the Gamecocks easily took care of the University at Buffalo Bulls 88-60 in the quarterfinals on Saturday, then easily got past the Ducks in the semifinals on Sunday. The Huskies won 88-58 over the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers on Saturday, then outlasted the Bulls in the semifinals on Sunday.
Also in the inaugural tournament this year were the Syracuse University Orange and the Oklahoma Sooners. Today is the final day of action.
The post Huskies vs. Gamecocks in B4A final appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/huskies-vs-gamecocks-in-b4a-final/
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