GREENSBORO, N.C. — South Carolina, the top-seeded crew within the girls’s event, is heading to its fourth Remaining 4 after defeating Creighton 80-50 on Sunday.
The Gamecocks placed on a present in one among their greatest video games of the 12 months. The Tenth-seeded Bluejays, one among a number of large underdogs within the males’s and ladies’s tournaments this 12 months, have been no match for Aliyah Boston, the Gamecocks’ star ahead, who scored 19 factors.
However simply as nice films can’t depend on a single star, Boston leaned on a supporting solid of guard Brea Beal, ahead Victaria Saxton and guard Destanni Henderson to cease Creighton’s spectacular protection. The draw back of South Carolina’s proficient capturing sport: Boston subbed out early and her streak of 27 consecutive double-doubles got here to an finish. Saxton, nevertheless, crammed within the hole and had 11 factors and 11 rebounds.
South Carolina will play both No. 1 Louisville or No. 3 Michigan on Friday in Minneapolis.
The Gamecocks are hoping to safe a nationwide championship for the primary time since 2017. South Carolina Coach Daybreak Staley, a Corridor of Fame participant and an Olympic gold medalist as a participant and a coach, has practiced a mantra of “management what you may management,” an adage her gamers have locked into over the season.
South Carolina had an instantaneous peak benefit on Sunday night time: The common peak on the Gamecocks’ roster is 6-foot-1, whereas Creighton’s averages 5-foot-10 (nobody on the Bluejays is taller than 6-foot-1). Creighton tried to restrict the 6-foot-5 Boston’s second-chance factors by throwing 4 gamers on her at a time and forcing her to work double-time on the perimeter.
The Gamecocks wore the supercharged confidence of returning gamers on their broad builds and faces, a confidence that has propelled this system to 6 appearances within the spherical of 8, 5 of them beneath Staley.
They got here into the event with simply two losses this season, together with an upset by Kentucky within the Southeastern Convention championship sport in early March. However their dominance all season didn’t translate to straightforward wins within the early rounds of the N.C.A.A. event. They struggled to maintain up with smaller, quicker groups like Creighton, and their offense missed pictures a No. 1 general seed can be anticipated to make.
However all through the event, South Carolina has discovered new and surprising methods to win. On Sunday, the Gamecocks did what they do greatest: They attacked the basket and used their peak to their benefit. On the finish of the primary quarter, the 6-foot-7 middle Kamilla Cardoso caught a move over the top of 6-foot-1 Morgan Maly, a sophomore guard, to simply land a basket.
When Creighton’s Payton Brotzki tried to seize an offensive rebound within the fourth quarter, Boston rapidly intervened and gave her the aspect look of an unwelcome customer.
If South Carolina’s relaxed sport relied on expertise, the Bluejays seemed nervous even after they made it via South Carolina’s towering protection, lacking layups they’d simply secured in opposition to Iowa State on Friday. Their play was unfastened and shaky, their dependable 3-point sport unpredictable.
The Gamecocks at the moment are on a quest to proper the wrongs of the 2021 semifinals, after they misplaced to Stanford, the eventual champion, by 1 level.
Creighton has stored its opponents on their toes all through the competitors. The Bluejays took down No. 7 Colorado, No. 2 Iowa and No. 3 Iowa State to develop into the uncommon No. 10 seed to achieve the spherical of 8, making it for the primary time in this system’s historical past. What the Bluejays lacked in peak, they made up for in constant protection and fluidity, taking an all-hands-on-deck strategy throughout the court docket and steadily sending their greatest gamers to the 3-point line.
Sophomore guard Lauren Jensen led the Bluejays with 12 factors.
The Bluejays, a comparatively younger crew, performed each sport prefer it was their final, desirous to show themselves on each shot, dribble, fake-out and drive. However their “we made it this far, why not us?” mentality, because the junior guard Carly Bachelor described it Saturday, may take them solely to date.
Because the Gamecocks celebrated in confetti on the Greensboro Coliseum, the Bluejays mirrored on a 12 months that stunned many observers. Tatum Rembao, a senior guard, stated she was annoyed and “indignant” that they misplaced, “however actually joyful that I obtained to expertise all that I obtained to expertise all these final 10 days and final 5 years.”
