By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Newcomers UCLA will face titans UConn in the Final Four while Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks are hoping to spoil Texas’ best March Madness run in more than 20 years as the women’s collegiate competition reaches a thrilling crescendo.
Presumed number one pick in the upcoming WNBA Draft Paige Bueckers of UConn put up 31 points on Monday to end USC’s run 78-64, while Texas brought TCU’s Cinderella story to a close with a 58-47 win, booking a first Final Four spot since 2003.
“We’ve got a whole lot of heart and a whole lot of toughness about us,” Bueckers told reporters of her younger Huskies’ team, who were taking each game “one possession at a time.”
“Just staying present, staying in the moment not worrying about the pressures or the stakes because everybody’s dealing with it, everybody’s there to win a national title and nobody’s there by accident.”
A year after Iowa’s Caitlin Clark set the women’s tournament ablaze in her record-smashing senior campaign, the 2025 bracket now shows a tantalizing possibility of a meeting between the sport’s two most decorated coaches.
Staley, who led South Carolina to the title in 2022 and 2024, could meet UConn’s Geno Auriemma in the finale, adding another chapter to their storied rivalry, if she can steer the defending champions past Texas.
The team survived a surprisingly tough challenge in the spine-tingling final seconds of their Elite Eight meeting with Duke, who had not made it that far since 2013, beating them 54-50.
“At this point it’s not going to look pretty, it’s not,” Staley told reporters after the game on Sunday. “But you certainly have to get down and play the kind of game that’s presented in front of you and we’ll do that.”
The women’s Final Four will take place on Friday.
On the men’s side, all four top seeds Florida, Auburn, Duke and Houston made it to the penultimate stage for the first time in 17 years, adding intrigue to a tournament that armchair experts and analysts alike had previously labeled dull.
“Missing Madness,” The Guardian quipped, after an early slate “bereft of buzzer-beaters and big upsets,” while sportscaster Dan Patrick said: “I don’t want to say it’s been boring – it’s been a little more predictable than I’d like.”
Oddsmakers favor Duke over Houston in the Blue Devils’ first Final Four berth since feted coach Mike Krzyzewski ended his 42-year reign in 2022, while Florida are tipped to beat Auburn, with both games scheduled for Saturday.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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