Heating up the Court - What happened within Women’s March Madness
- Victoria Serrano
- Apr 13
- 3 min read
As March Madness just wrapped up, we will recap on the last couple of weeks.
The past two weeks have been full of March Madness content as brackets shrink, teams get eliminated, and more eyes are on the screen. Both Men’s and Women's March Madness have finally gotten down to their championship game, after an entire month of action-packed games and wholesome moments. Let's take a look at some moments from the Women's Final Four games to see how they got to the championship game.
On April 4th, the Final Four took place in Tampa, Florida, as the Texas Longhorns played the South Carolina Gamecocks, and the UCLA Bruins took on the UConn Huskies. Going into the first game, the Gamecocks were looking to be back where they were last year: the Championship. On the other hand, the Texas Longhorns hadn't been to the Final Four since 2003 and have gotten much support from fans. This amount of support even led to players Rori Harmon and Madison Booker paying for students to see Texas play in the Final Four. As the first half unfolded, both teams were neck and neck with 17 combined turnovers and many lead changes as the game hit the halftime mark. As soon as the second half started, South Carolina guard Te-Hina Paopao hit a 3-pointer to kick things off for her team and give them their first lead in the game. The Gamecocks manage to hold their lead throughout the third quarter with an 11-point lead towards the end. In the fourth quarter, the Gamecocks got their groove and finished the game 74-57, claiming their spot in the Women's March Madness championship game. The game presented a well-fought battle for Texas and an impressive and deserving game for South Carolina with a quick lead during the second half; alongside the notable statistic of the Gamecocks winning 104 straight games.
Looking at the other game, UConn and UCLA put on quite a show. UCLA was the top overall seed in the tournament, but that didn't stop UConn from showing up and showing out. UConn’s dynamic frontcourt duo Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd lit up playing against the Bruins, as Strong led with a team-high 22 points. This made history for her name, being only the third UConn freshman to drop +20 points in a Final Four game. During the first half, UCLA had tons of turnovers to UConn which gave them a very strong advantage to lead. UConn’s Azzi Fudd was a player to watch during the game as she almost single-handedly matched the Bruins score to help the Huskies get to a 20-point lead over UCLA at halftime. After the half the Huskies still stayed in control, while UConn star Paige Bueckers buckets put them ahead by 22 points in the third quarter and continued to cruise through the fourth to end up winning 85-51.
Moving forward to the championship game, it was a familiar matchup to see if South Carolina would take home the victory for the second time or if UConn would bounce back from last year and take home the title. It was a competition between two powerhouse programs with two of sports most high-profile coaches: South Carolina's Dawn Staley and UConn’s Geno Auriemma. After a hard battle for both teams, UConn came on top by winning the Women's March Madness championship game.
Edited by Elsa Olano
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