South Carolina shocks UConn in women’s Final Four, ending Huskies’ bid for perfection

By Jacob Lev, CNN

(CNN) — The South Carolina Gamecocks will play for a national championship after putting an end to Connecticut’s bid for perfection in the women’s Final Four on Friday.

The UCLA Bruins and Texas Longhorns will play in the second game for a chance to potentially secure each program’s second-ever title and face the Gamecocks.

Here is what to know from Friday’s madness:

South Carolina shocks UConn

South Carolina came into Friday’s game in a position they don’t usually find themselves in: As an underdog to UConn.

And they pulled off a stunning upset, downing the Huskies 62-47 to advance to the national championship game for the fourth time in the past five years.

After a low-scoring first half that saw both teams struggling from three-point range, it was the Gamecocks that woke up after halftime.

A quick 12-2 run helped South Carolina jump out to an eight-point lead, the biggest of the game up to that point.

However, the Huskies battled back with Kayleigh Heckel, Blanca Quiñonez and Azzi Fudd hitting back-to-back-to-back three-pointers to make it a one-point game.

But South Carolina answered right back to extend their lead to five with UConn finding themselves in an unfamiliar position — trailing at the end of three quarters for the first time this season.

The Gamecocks shut down any potential comeback attempt by the Huskies in the fourth quarter to coast to the victory.

UConn now ends the season with a 38-1 record and their 54-game winning streak comes to a screeching end.

Amid the season coming to an end for his Huskies squad, head coach Geno Auriemma appeared to exchange heated words with USC head coach Dawn Staley in the final seconds of the game.

The two were separated and did not appear to shake hands after the final buzzer, with Auriemma walking to the locker room tunnel by himself as his UConn players congratulated their opponents.

The 55-year-old Staley said she had “no idea” what happened with the skirmish, but that she “is of integrity.”

“I’m of integrity,” Staley told the ESPN broadcast after the game. “So, if I did something wrong to Geno, I had no idea what I did. I guess he thought I didn’t shake his hand at the beginning. I didn’t know. I went down there pregame, shook everyone on his staff’s hand. I don’t know where he came with after the game but hey, sometimes things get heated. We move on.”

South Carolina will look to bring the program’s fourth title back to Columbia, South Carolina on Sunday when they face the winner of the upcoming UCLA-Texas Final Four game.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

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