FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Madison Booker had 19 points and seven rebounds, fifth-year senior guard Rori Harmon has 13 assists and Texas is going to the women’s Final Four for the second year in a row after a 77-41 rout over Michigan in the Fort Worth Regional 3 championship game Monday night.
The Longhorns missed only one shot in the first quarter, quickly building a double-digit lead and maintaining control even through extended periods of poor shooting by both teams after that in the only regional final matching the top two seeds.
Justice Carlton added 15 points while Kyla Oldacre added 12 points and 11 rebounds for Texas (35-3), which built as much as a 40-point lead.
Top-seeded Texas is going to its fifth Final Four overall, and the only other time the Longhorns had made back-to-back appearances was their undefeated 34-0 national championship in 1986 and semifinal loss the following season. Before last year’s loss to South Carolina, they hadn’t made it to the final weekend of March Madness since 2003.
Next for Texas is Friday in Phoenix against UCLA (35-1), another top seed and a rematch against the only team to beat the Big Ten champion this season. The Bruins have won 29 in a row since a 76-65 loss to the Horns in the Players Era Championship on Nov. 26.
Olivia Olson and Mila Holloway each had 11 points for Michigan (28-7), which tied the single-season school record for wins, was in the Elite Eight for only the second time and hasn’t made it past that. The Wolverines finished 22.8% (13 of 57) from the field, included several missed layups.
SACRAMENTO REGION 4
NO. 1 SOUTH CAROLINA 7, NO. 3 TCU 52
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Joyce Edwards scored 24 points and Agot Makeer added 18 to help South Carolina beat TCU to advance to the Final Four in the women’s NCAA Tournament.
The top-seeded Gamecocks will face UConn in the Final Four in Phoenix on Friday night in a rematch of last season’s national championship game.
South Carolina (34-3) has now reached the Final Four in seven of the past nine seasons and won three national championships during that stretch. Coach Dawn Staley has been at the helm for all of them, including the undefeated 2023-24 season.
This was the first time that the Gamecocks really had been challenged in the NCAA Tournament. They came into the game averaging nearly 100 points a game in their first three contests and were winning by an average of 45 points.
The Gamecocks have so many offensive weapons making them tough to guard. The Horned Frogs (32-6) did a good job on the South Carolina guards, but had no answer for Edwards and Makeer. Edwards also had 12 rebounds and three blocks.
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness