2022 NCAA Division I women's basketball championship game

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2022 NCAA tournament championship game
National championship game
UConn Huskies South Carolina Gamecocks
(30–5) (34–2)
49 64
Head coach:
Geno Auriemma		 Head coach:
Dawn Staley
1234 Total
UConn 8191012 49
South Carolina 22131118 64
DateApril 3, 2022
ArenaTarget Center
LocationMinneapolis, Minnesota
MVPAliyah Boston, South Carolina
FavoriteSouth Carolina by 4.5
Attendance18,304
United States TV coverage
NetworkESPN
Announcers
Nielsen Ratings0.91 (4.47 million)[1]
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The 2022 NCAA Division I women's basketball championship game was the final game of the 2022 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament. It determined the national champion for the 2021–22 season, and was contested by the UConn Huskies and the South Carolina Gamecocks. The game was played on April 3, 2022, at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[2] In the game, the Gamecocks jumped out to an 18-point lead early in the second quarter and held off UConn scoring runs to win the national championship, 64–49. South Carolina's Aliyah Boston was voted the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (MOP). This was UConn's first loss in the women's national championship game.

Participants

South Carolina

Main article: 2021–22 South Carolina Gamecocks women's basketball team

The Gamecocks, who represent University of South Carolina and play their home games at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, came to the championship game after being ranked No. 1 in every poll from the preseason through this matchup, the final game of the year. Led by coach of the year Dawn Staley and player of the year Aliyah Boston, South Carolina defeated a healthy UConn team in November's Battle 4 Atlantis tournament final, 73–57.[3]

South Carolina lost only two games during the season: one in overtime against unranked Missouri in December, and one in the SEC Tournament, where the unranked Kentucky Wildcats surprised the Gamecocks in the finals.[4] In the NCAA Tournament, South Carolina drew a No. 1 seed in the Greensboro Regional, where they won handily against Howard and Miami on their home court, then defeated a scrappy No. 5 seed North Carolina team. They then dominated Cinderella No. 10 seed Creighton in Greensboro to advance to the Final Four. The Gamecocks defeated Louisville, who never led after the second quarter, to advance to their second consecutive March Madness finals.[5]

The Gamecocks entered this game with no injuries which would affect their line up.[5]

UConn

Main article: 2021–22 UConn Huskies women's basketball team

The Huskies, who represent the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut, and split their home games between Gampel Pavilion and XL Center, came to the finals after a 30–5 season, an uncharacteristic year in which eight different players suffered injuries which kept them out of two or more games.[6] UConn started the season ranked No. 2 behind the Gamecocks.[7] Coached by Hall of Famers Geno Auriemma and Chris Dailey and led by last year's player of the year Paige Bueckers, UConn utilized eleven different starting lineups; eight different players led the Huskies in scoring in games during the season. In December, Bueckers suffered a broken bone in her knee,[8] which kept her out of play for nineteen games, but she rejoined the team in late February with limited minutes until the NCAA Tournament.[9] Bueckers's injury gave Auriemma and Dailey unexpected opportunities to develop blue-chip freshmen as scorers,[10] while three seniors and several experienced sophomores anchored the team.[11][12]

UConn lost regular season games against unranked Georgia Tech, Oregon, and Villanova, while losing to No. 6 Louisville in December. A healthy UConn dominated the Big East Tournament, defeating Villanova in the finals.[13] In the NCAA Tournament, the No. 2 seed Huskies beat Mercer and struggled on their home court against a physical UCF team. At the Bridgeport regional, UConn defeated Indiana, then emerged victorious in a game that announcers called an "instant classic", a two-overtime 91–87 contest against No. 1 seed NC State.[14] In a Final Four contest against Stanford, UConn out-rebounded the taller Cardinal squad and the Huskies' stifling defense held the defending national champions to a 34.8% shooting percentage to advance to this final with a 63–58 win.[15]

Senior forward Dorka Juhász suffered a wrist injury during the NC State contest, and was the only starter injured for this contest.[16]

Starting lineups

UConn Position South Carolina
Olivia Nelson-Ododa F Aliyah Boston
Aaliyah Edwards F Victaria Saxton
Christyn Williams G Zia Cooke
Azzi Fudd G Brea Beal
Paige Bueckers G Destanni Henderson
Source[17]

Game summary

Aliyah Boston of South Carolina was named the NCAA Tournament MOP.

South Carolina jumped out to a 5–0 lead,[18] and held a nine-point lead by the first timeout in the game, three and a half minutes into the contest.[19] The Gamecocks already had seven second-chance points and eight rebounds.[19] Aliyah Boston made a jump shot with 19 seconds to go in the first quarter, giving the Gamecocks a 22–8 lead.[18] South Carolina had seven offensive rebounds in the quarter and held a 12–3 edge in rebounds.[20]

One minute passed in the second quarter before Destanni Henderson scored its first points on a three-pointer, as in the first quarter. UConn followed with two jump shots and the Gamecocks made a layup before Henderson scored another three-pointer with 7:38 to play, extending the Gamecocks' lead to 18 points. A pair of shots by Paige Bueckers narrowed the deficit to 16 with seven minutes left, and the Huskies further made up ground after Bueckers made one of her two free throws with just over five minutes left. A minute-long scoring drought by both teams was broken with 4:01 by Caroline Ducharme, though another scoring drought of nearly two minutes followed. This was again broken by a Ducharme layup, which narrowed the South Carolina lead to single digits for the first time since the score was 13–4 with four minutes remaining in the first quarter. Evina Westbrook and Henderson traded layups and Bueckers made a jump shot, which narrowed the deficit to seven points, and a free throw by Saniya Rivers with 23 seconds left bumped the lead to eight. This would be the final scoring play of the first half, and the Gamecocks took a 35–27 lead to the locker room.[18]

UConn began the second half with the ball, but two missed shots resulted in no points from their first possession. Boston opened the second half scoring with a layup 54 seconds into the half, and South Carolina's lead was pushed to eleven points with a free throw from Zia Cooke just under two minutes later. Boston made one of two free throws with 6:19 to play and Henderson made both of hers six seconds later, and Cooke scored a layup with 5:18 on the clock, extending the Gamecocks' lead to sixteen points as a result of their 8–0 run. This run was broken seconds later by Bueckers, who scored a jump shot with an assist from Nika Mühl. Over two minutes passed with no scoring before Edwards scored a layup with 2:41.[18] UConn continued their scoring run with three-point shots from Ducharme and Westbrook,[18] and their 10–0 streak cut the Gamecocks' lead to six points.[20] Henderson made a free throw and a jump shot in the quarter's final minute, giving South Carolina a nine point lead at the conclusion of the third quarter.[18]

Edwards began the scoring in the fourth quarter for UConn, which was countered by a pair of layups by Henderson. Victaria Saxton made two free throws with just under seven minutes to play, and Ducharme made a layup to bring the lead down to eleven. A free throw from Boston and a jumper and layup from Henderson pushed the lead to sixteen points. Azzi Fudd and Bueckers made three-pointers for UConn with 4:09 and 3:23 to play, respectively, which brought the lead to within ten points for the final time. UConn began fouling around this time, as the game's next five points were scored on free throws by Henderson, Saxton, and Hall. UConn's final points of the contest would come with 1:51 to play, as Williams made a layup to make it 62–49. From there, Boston would score two free throws with 1:15 remaining before the Gamecocks would be able to run the clock out and claim their second national championship, 64–49.[18]

Boston finished with 11 points and a team-high 16 rebounds for her Division I-high 30th double-double of the season. She was named the tournament's MOP.[20] South Carolina outrebounded UConn by 25, one of the largest margins in the championship game's history. Bueckers had 14 points and six rebounds for UConn.[19]

April 3, 2022
7:00 p.m. CDT
No. 2 UConn Huskies 49, No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks 64
Scoring by quarter: 8–22, 19–13, 10–11, 12–18
Pts: P. Bueckers – 14
Rebs: P. Bueckers – 6
Asts: C. Williams, N. Mühl – 3		 Pts: D. Henderson – 26
Rebs: A. Boston – 16
Asts: D. Henderson – 4
Target Center – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Attendance: 18,304
Referees: Maj Forsberg, Michol Murray, Michael McConnell
Starters: Pts Reb Ast
F 3 Aaliyah Edwards 8 2 2
F 20 Olivia Nelson-Ododa 4 2 1
G 35 Azzi Fudd 3 1 0
G 5 Paige Bueckers 14 6 2
G 13 Christyn Williams 2 1 3
Reserves:
G 42 Amari Deberry 0 0 0
G 33 Caroline Ducharme 9 1 1
G 10 Nika Mühl 2 2 3
G 22 Evina Westbrook 7 4 2
Head coach:
Geno Auriemma
Kit body whitesides.png
UConn jersey
Kit shorts whitesides.png
Team colours
UConn
Kit body blacksides.png
South Carolina jersey
Kit shorts blacksides.png
Team colours
South Carolina

0

UConn Statistics South Carolina
22/54 (41%) Field goals 22/60 (37%)
4/16 (25%) 3-pt field goals 3/16 (19%)
1/4 (25%) Free throws 17/26 (65%)
6 Offensive rebounds 21
18 Defensive rebounds 28
24 Total rebounds 49
14 Assists 9
15 Turnovers 14
4 Steals 6
5 Blocks 4
21 Fouls 11
Starters: Pts Reb Ast
F 4 Aliyah Boston 11 16 3
F 5 Victaria Saxton 6 5 0
G 12 Brea Beal 2 4 1
G 1 Zia Cooke 11 5 0
G 3 Destanni Henderson 26 2 4
Reserves:
F 15 Laeticia Amihere 2 1 0
C 10 Kamilla Cardoso 4 3 1
G 23 Bree Hall 1 3 0
F 44 Saniya Rivers 1 0 0
F 2 Eniya Russell 0 0 0
G 24 Lele Grissett 0 2 0
Head coach:
Dawn Staley

Media coverage

The championship game was televised in the United States by ESPN.[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ Metcalf, Mitch (April 5, 2022). "ShowBuzzDaily's Sunday 4.3.2022 Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals & Network Finals". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  2. ^ "2022 NCAA women's basketball tournament dates, schedule". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  3. ^ Diaz, Cory (November 22, 2021). "No. 1 South Carolina beats second-ranked UConn to win the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament championship". USA TODAY. Greenville News. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  4. ^ "2021-22 Women's Basketball Schedule". University of South Carolina Athletics. University of South Carolina. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Armour, Nancy (April 2, 2022). "South Carolina's terrific season will be judged on what it does in title game". USA TODAY. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  6. ^ Voepel, Mechelle (January 7, 2022). "UConn to have Nika Mühl back in return Sunday". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  7. ^ Philippou, Alexa (April 3, 2022). "Season like no other could catapult UConn to most improbable of NCAA women's basketball title runs". ESPN. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  8. ^ Philippou, Alexa (December 7, 2021). "Paige Bueckers' injury: What is a tibial plateau fracture, what does recovery look like and what are the long-term implications?". courant.com. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  9. ^ Philippou, Alexa (February 26, 2022). "Bueckers back in UConn rout: 'It was a lot of fun'". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  10. ^ Connolly, Daniel (February 6, 2022). "After a career day, Azzi Fudd becomes the latest UConn freshman to burn Tennessee". The UConn Blog. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  11. ^ Carroll, Charlotte (December 31, 2021). "How different is UConn without Paige Bueckers? These 3 stats tell the story". The Athletic. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  12. ^ Connolly, Daniel (February 18, 2022). "UConn WBB Weekly: Huskies finding a silver lining to their injury troubles". The UConn Blog. SB Nation. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  13. ^ "2021-22 Women's Basketball Schedule". University of Connecticut Athletics. University of Connecticut. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  14. ^ Barnes, Katie (March 29, 2022). "UConn's double-overtime win over NC State an instant classic". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  15. ^ Schnell, Lindsay (April 2, 2022). "UConn women eliminate Stanford, earn first trip to national title game since 2016". USA TODAY. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  16. ^ Philippou, Alexis (March 28, 2022). "UConn's Juhasz suffers season-ending wrist injury". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  17. ^ "UConn vs. South Carolina - Box Score". ESPN. April 3, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g "UConn vs. South Carolina - Play-By-Play". ESPN. April 3, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
  19. ^ a b c Blinder, Alan (April 3, 2022). "South Carolina, a Dominant Force All Season, Delivers a Championship Over UConn". The New York Times. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  20. ^ a b c Evans, Jace (April 3, 2022). "South Carolina dominates Connecticut to secure second national championship". USA Today. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  21. ^ "Women's Final Four: Broadcast info". National Collegiate Athletic Administration. April 5, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2022.

External links

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