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The Uconn Huskies and Texas Longhorns head towards Tampa, Florida, and the Final Four of the NCAA female basketball tournament after each victory of their Elite Eight competitions on Monday evening.
The Huskies and Longhorns join the Gamecocks of South Carolina and the Bruins of the UCLA, which each went to the largest scene of university basketball with victories on Sunday.
In the night evening of the evening in Spokane, Washington, the seeded n ° 2 Uconn Huskies shot the head of the University of Southern California 78-64.
With the USC dedicated to trying to slow down the finalist of the national player of the year of Uconn, Paige Bueckers, the Huskies turned to the first year striker Sarah Strong, who scored 15 impressive points in the first half.
After held Bueckers in check a large part of the first half, the senior star struck a pair of 3 points in the last minute of half-time to bring his total to 13 points while the Big East Fields took an advantage of 39-25 in the intermission.
Uconn seemed to have the match in hand, leading by as many points to 19 points in the third quarter, but the USC finished the 3rd quarter on a race of 11-0 to reduce the deficit at five points with the 51-46 score.
The offensive of the Huskies woke up in the fourth quarter and restored a comfortable advance with timely fire from Bueckers and the senior goalkeeper Azzi Fudd, who had eight points in the match, all in the last quarter.
Bueckers finished with a summit of 31 points, followed by his teammate Strong with 22. Strong also reduced 17 rebounds in the match.
“It’s a team victory, a team victory,” Bueckers told ESPN after the match. “The coaches do a very good job by preparing us at this time and we have intensified.”
Bueckers continued: “Throughout adversity, through everything we have just gathered and remained a team, has remained connected, did not remain affected by everything that happened. We stayed together, and this is how we did it.”
Southern Cal was in competition without his own national player of the year, the finalist of the year, Juju Watkins, who suffered an injury at the end of the season during the victory of Sweet 16 of Trojans over the state of Mississippi a week ago.
The undisputed dynasty of the female hoops Uconn will appear record of the 24th Final Four, all is the head coach Geno Auriemma, who is in his 40th season at the bar at Uconn.
“These guys have learned to play so hard together. They learned to trust each other,” Auriemma in ESPN said after having advanced his eighth Final Four in the last nine NCAA tournaments.
“We have guys who make big games exactly when we need them.
The Huskies will continue their quest for their 12th national championship while they will face the Bruins of the seeded n ° 1 in the semi-finals on Friday in Amalie Arena in Tampa, in Florida.
Earlier in the evening, the Texas Longhorns reserved a ticket for the Final Four for the fourth time in the history of the program and first since 2003.
The seeded n ° 1 Texas dominated the seeded n ° 2 Texas Christian University 58-47 in the Elite Eight on Monday in Birmingham, in Alabama. Longhorns never dragged into the Lone Start State confrontation in Legacy Arena.
It was a defensive battle in the first half. Texas led 23-21 at halftime when he was holding the lowest half this season. The horns in horns committed 11 reversals in the first half.
The Longhorns kept the three large of TCU in check.
Senior goalkeeper Hailey Van Lith finished with 17 points on 3 shots out of 15. The senior center Sedona Prince committed a fourth period after scoring only four points and the senior goalkeeper Madison Conner collected 9 points on 4 shots out of 11.
The second year striker, Madison Booker, paved the way in Texas with 18 points, six rebounds and two interceptions. The main goalkeeper Rori Harmon added 13 points and five assists.
The Longhorns are the third seeded n ° 1 to qualify for the Final Four after the national reigning champion Gamecocks and the head of the upper seeds which held the service on Sunday.
Texas will face the South Carolina Friday in Tampa in a confrontation in the semi-finals.
The Longhorns were 1-1 against the gamecocks in the regular season, losing 67-50 on January 12 in Columbia, in South Carolina, and winning 66-62 on February 9 in Austin, Texas.
Texas lost southern Carolina 64-45 in the final of the SEC tournament on March 9.
