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sports Diamars 5 aPriL 2022

Staley leads South Carolina over UConn for second NCAA title

(AP) — Dawn Staley hoist- UConn (30-6) trailed by 16
ed the championship tro- With Staley calling the shots in the second quarter before
phy high, strutted around in a Louis Vuitton letterman Bueckers, a Minnesota na-
the court and stopped for jacket, South Carolina took tive, got going. After having
a brief victory dance. She UConn to school on the just one shot in the first quar-
handed over the hardware boards and capped a wire-to- ter, she scored nine points in
to South Carolina’s stu- wire run as the No. 1 team in the second to get the Huskies
dent band, then headed the country in The Associ- within 35-27 at the half. She
back to midcourt for more ated Press poll. The Game- finished with 14.
merriment. cocks also won the champi-
onship in 2017 with A’ja Wil- An 8-2 run to start the third
The Gamecocks hit all the son leading the way. quarter put South Carolina
right notes this season, and up 43-29 before the Huskies
they finished with a master- This time it was Boston — finally started connecting
piece. the AP Player of the Year — from behind the arc. UConn
and her fellow South Caro- missed its first eight 3-point
Staley’s team buttoned up lina post players who domi- attempts until Caroline
on defense and dominated nated on the game’s biggest Ducharme made one from the national semifinals, los-
on the glass, beating UConn stage. The Gamecocks out- the wing and Evina West- ing twice in overtime, before The Gamecocks have been
64-49 on Sunday night to rebounded UConn 49-24, brook followed with another holding off Stanford on Fri- stalwarts on defense all sea-
end the Huskies’ undefeated including a 21-6 advantage to get the Huskies within 43- day night. The Huskies were son long, ranking third na-
streak in title games. Des- on offensive boards. 37. trying to win their 12th title tionally with 50.5 points al-
tanni Henderson scored a in the same city they won lowed per game. They were
career-high 26 points, Aliyah “We knew tonight that if we That’s as close as they could their first one in 1995. even sharper in the NCAA
Boston added 11 points and didn’t hold our own on the get because of Henderson. Tournament, holding oppo-
16 rebounds, and the Game- boards, that it was going to Auriemma said Saturday nents to 44.8 points entering
cocks handed Geno Auriem- be a really bad night for us,,” The senior guard had a three- that when his team had won Sunday’s finale.
ma’s Huskies their first loss Auriemma said. “And that’s point play to close the third each of its 11 titles, the Hus-
in 12 NCAA title games. exactly what happened.” quarter and then had the kies entered the game as the Henderson had three steals,
team’s first four points in the better team. They certainly Boston blocked two shots
“We played every posses- They also clamped down on fourth to restore the dou- weren’t on Sunday. and South Carolina forced 15
sion like it was our last pos- star Paige Bueckers and the ble-digit lead. The Huskies turnovers. The Gamecocks’
session,” said Staley, the first Huskies on defense, just like couldn’t recover. “We just didn’t have enough,” plus-25 rebounding margin
Black men’s or women’s they did all season long. he said. “They were just too was the second biggest ever
coach with two Division I ti- “My teammates believed in good for us.” in a title game.
tles. “They were determined “They deserved it 100%,” me once again. We’ve been
to be champions today.” Auriemma said. “They were working so hard since Day It had been one of the most UConn: The Huskies lose
the best team all year.” 1, and it finally paid off, all challenging seasons of Au- three seniors in Christyn
A year ago, South Carolina my hard work, all my focus,” riemma’s Hall of Fame ca- Williams, Westbrook and Ol-
lost in the Final Four when It was South Carolina’s night Henderson said. “Me trust- reer. UConn overcame losing ivia Nelson-Ododa but still
Boston missed a layup before from the start. The Game- ing the process. Me trusting eight players for at least two have a solid group back led
the buzzer. cocks (35-2) jumped to an God. She just put me in a po- games with injury or illness, by Bueckers and freshman
11-2 lead, grabbing nearly sition just to be great, and to- including Bueckers, who Azzi Fudd. If the Huskies
“Honestly, I’ve been think- every rebound on both ends day, we national champions.” missed nearly three months stay healthy, they’ll have a
ing about this since last sea- of the floor. They led to 22-8 with a left knee injury suf- good shot to contend for next
son. Everyone had a picture after one quarter much to This was UConn’s first trip to fered in early December. She year’s title.
of me crying,” said Boston, the delight of their fans, who the championship game since came back in late February South Carolina: The Game-
who was the Most Outstand- made the trip to Minneapo- 2016, when the Huskies won but wasn’t at the same level cocks lose Henderson and
ing Player of the Final Four. lis to be part of the sellout the last of four straight titles. that earned her AP Player of Victaria Saxton but have all
“Today, we’re national cham- crowd. Since then, the team has suf- the Year as a freshman last the talent to repeat as cham-
pions and I’m in tears.” fered heartbreaking defeats in season. pions.

Tar Heels, Jayhawks enter NCAA title tilt with common roots

(AP) — The story of col- heartland and down To- peach baskets at the Spring- his own. championship in ’52 and then
lege basketball can be bacco Road to North Car- field YMCA, was an irascible he goes on and is thought to
traced largely from the olina, where so much of its youngster named Forrest Al- On and on it goes, the ties be as good a basketball coach
base of Mount Oread on history has been made. len, who would later go sim- binding two of college bas- that’s ever coached the sport
the campus of Kansas, ply by the nickname “Phog.” ketball’s bluebloods forming over a period of time — I
where the inventor of the Among those coached by Phog Allen would later take a rich tapestry over time, and think that’s special. ”
game was also the school’s Dr. James Naismith, who over the Jayhawks and coach another layer to come Mon-
first coach, and across the famously tacked up those a young man from southeast day night when the schools Self has his own ties to the
Kansas named Dean Smith, square off for the national Tar Heels.
who delivered him a national championship at the Super-
championship before begin- dome. He was just an eager young
ning his own coaching career. college student trying to
“Both teams are as blue as make a buck as a camp coun-
Smith would become a Tar you can get when you talk selor at Kansas in the early
Heels’ legend during his about bluebloods,” said Kan- 1980s when he caught the
tenure in Chapel Hill, lead- sas coach Bill Self, whose eyes of the Jayhawks’ coach.
ing North Carolina to a pair Jayhawks are chasing a third It turned out to be Larry
of national championships. national championship. “But Brown, who two decades
And one of his disciples, to play a Carolina program earlier had played for Smith
that dadgum Roy Williams, that’s intertwined with Kan- and the Tar Heels before em-
would not only lead the Jay- sas history, in large part be- barking on his own coaching
hawks to four Final Fours but cause Coach Smith played career as an assistant in Cha-
the Tar Heels to three titles of at Kansas and won a national pel Hill.