Aliyah Boston and South Carolina Will Play UConn For National Title Tonight

  • Kyle Murphy
  • April 03, 2022
comments
1 Comments

0

The South Carolina Gamecocks will be taking on the UConn Huskies for the NCAA Women’s Championship on Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. on ESPN. The Gamecocks are led by National Player of the Year and Virgin Islander Aliyah Boston. (Join the V.I. Consortium and WTJX watch party tonight.)

South Carolina is 34-2 this year and won the SEC regular season title. In the NCAA Tournament, they defeated Howard 79-21, Miami 49-33, North Carolina 69-61, Creighton 80-50 and Louisville 72-59. 

South Carolina was the number one ranked team in both the Associated Press and Coaches Polls for the entirety of the season and entered the Final Four as the nation’s third best scoring defense, giving up 50.5 points per game this season. 

Boston was a major part of that defense’s success as she led the team with 2.49 blocked shots per game, which was the 14th highest in that category this season in the country.

UConn went 30-5 this season and won both the Big East Regular Season title and their conference tournament. In the NCAA Tournament this year, they defeated  Mercer 83-38, UCF 52-47, Indiana 75-58, North Carolina State in double overtime 91-87, and Stanford 63-58.

UConn was the 22nd highest scoring team in the country, averaging 74.8 points per game, and gave up the 12th fewest points, limiting teams to 54.6 points a game this season.

This is South Carolina’s second ever championship game in program history while UConn has won 11 championships with the last title being in 2016.  

In South Carolina’s only trip to the championship game, they defeated Mississippi State 67-55 in 2017. 

Boston won the Naismith National Player of the Year, AP National Player of the Year, the Wade Trophy, the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and averaged 17 points and 12.4 rebounds this season.

In the national semifinals, she had 23 points and 18 rebounds in the team’s win against Louisville. It was her 29th double-double of the season. 

Boston had an historic season and now holds the Southeastern Conference record for consecutive double-doubles after putting up at least 10 points and 10 rebounds in 27 games in a row this season. Her double-double streak is the fifth longest in the history of Division 1, according to ESPN.

While Boston is a big part of South Carolina’s offense, the team's guards Henderson and Zia Cooke are both averaging double figures this year. Henderson averaged 11.1 points per game while Cooke  averaged 10.7 points this season. 

Henderson leads the team in assists with 3.9 assists per game.

The title game will be a homecoming for UConn’s star guard Paige Bueckers, who grew up about 20 minutes away from Minneapolis where the game is being played.  

Bueckers was limited to 16 games this year due to injury and averaged 14.6 points, 4.1 assists, 3.9 rebounds.

She was the National Player of the Year last season.

UConn’s Christyn Willimas averaged 14.6 points per game this year and is tied with Bueckers as the team's leading scorer, while Azzi Fudd averaged 12.5 points per game for the Huskies. 

On the defensive end, Williams leads the team in steals with 1.5 per game and Oliva Nelson-Ododa leads the team in blocks with 1.7 blocks per game. 

Dawn Staley is South Carolina’s head coach and was the Naismith Coach of the Year this season. She has been the head coach since 2008.

Geno Auriemma, who has won 11 national titles and 1,153 games in 37 years, is the UConn head coach.

 

Get the latest news straight to your phone with the VI Consortium app.