Texas 17-20 UCLA, 2:00 left, second quarter: Generally, I give referees the benefit of the doubt, especially after dealing with a tirade like Auriemma’s. But we just had a collision in which something needed to be called. The charge vs. block decision can be difficult, but calling nothing shouldn’t be an option.

Jaquez hits a nice pullup jumper. The Texas shooters are still cold, but Harmon gets two points off a steal and a breakaway layup. That’s eight points for her, nearly half of the Texas output.

Texas 15-18 UCLA, 4:14 left, second quarter: After a successful challenge of an out-of-bounds call, Texas comes back out with good ball movement to get Oldacre a clean shot that she converts. Harmon scores again on the next possession to cut the lead to four.

Betts answers with another great post move. Aaliyah Crump hits a 3-pointer to pull Texas within three.

UCLA miss. But Booker misses again. She’s 1-of-11, and it’s been a very long time since that 1.

Texas 8-16 UCLA, 7:00 left, second quarter: Kneepkens finds herself wide open in the middle of the lane and hits the short jumper. She already has seven.

The teams trade sloppy possessions, with Kneepkens guilty of a couple of poorly chosen shots. Booker misses again – she’s 1-for-8. Now 1-for-9.

Texas 8-14 UCLA, 9:05 left, second quarter: Right on cue, Harmon cuts into UCLA’s lead. The Longhorns get it back, but Betts stops Oldacre this time and forces the difficult shot.

Reminder of the first Texas-UCLA game this season …

These teams played in November, with Texas taking a 76-65 win. The Longhorns held Betts to eight points on 4-of-8 shooting. Booker scored 16, a little under her average, but Rori Harmon erupted for 26.

Neither team went to the bench much. Texas only used two subs. UCLA only used one, though she played 34 minutes.

Texas 6-14 UCLA, 0:53 left, first quarter: The poor start continues for Texas as they fumble the inbounds pass out of play.

The UCLA inbounds is also fraught, but they manage to get it in play. Briefly. Turnover.

Kyla Oldacre battles Betts in the paint and wins, pivoting away from the UCLA center to score. Oldacre is just an inch shorter than the 6-7 Betts.

Texas 4-14 UCLA, 2:08 left, first quarter: Booker tries to answer with a contested 3-point effort from the corner, but it sails over its target. Gabriela Jaquez drives for a layup to push the lead to double digits, and the Longhorns call timeout.

Texas 4-12 UCLA, 2:34 left, first quarter: Jordan Lee tries a difficult shot in the paint and only gets the rim. But Betts surprisingly misses twice at the other end to let Texas off the hook.

Breya Cunningham bangs an ugly shot off the basket, extending Texas’ shooting woes.

Angela Dugalic hits from behind the arc, and the lead is eight.

Texas 4-9 UCLA, 4:29 left, first quarter: Betts isn’t just big. She has skills. Cut off her path to the hoop, and she’ll just pivot and hit a fadeaway jumper. She restores UCLA’s five-point lead.

Both teams go cold for a minute leading into the media timeout.

Texas 4-7 UCLA, 5:45 left, first quarter: Kneepkens drains a 3-pointer. She has five points already, and the Bruins lead by five.

Harmon hits a jumper to shave the lead to three.

Texas 2-4 UCLA, 6:55 left, first quarter: Good defensive stop for Texas, and Booker opens her scoring account right away.

UCLA misses again, but the looming presence of Lauren Betts stops a Texas drive, and the Longhorns turn it over.

Kneepkens scores for UCLA, and then after a stop at the defensive end, Betts puts the Bruins ahead.

Game 2 is underway …

UCLA is led by six seniors. The centerpiece is 6-7 center Lauren Betts.

Texas also has senior leaders in Kyla Oldacre and Rori Harmon, but the offensive focal point is junior Madison Booker, who averaged 19.3 points this season.

Tipoff for Texas-UCLA will be in about eight minutes.

Some surprising players made the difference in this game.

For South Carolina, Joyce Edwards averaged nearly 20 points this season but was held to 11 here. (Her eight rebounds and three steals certainly helped.) Ta’Niya Latson is no scoring slouch herself, but few would’ve expected her to lead the team in scoring with 16 and grab 11 rebounds. The next highest scorer for the Gamecocks was a first-year player – Agot Makeer, who had 14 points off the bench.

For Connecticut, Sarah Strong led the scoring with just 12 points on 4-of-16 scoring. She made her presence felt with 12 rebounds and three steals. (She also tore her own jersey, though it’s possible that it had developed a small tear to get it started.) Ashlynn Shade kept the Huskies close for a while and finished with 10 points. Kayleigh Heckel had three steals, and KK Arnold played stifling defense. Azzi Fudd finished her distinguished career, complete with multiple comebacks from devastating injuries, with just eight points on 3-for-15 shooting.

South Carolina will be extremely tough to defeat in the final, no matter who emerges from our second game tonight.

Which we will cover here, so stay tuned …

This is shocking stuff from Auriemma. He has had his share of controversial utterances over the years, but he seemed to have settled in as an elder statesman of the game. His profanity in the interview before the fourth quarter and whatever he said to Staley, one of the most respected people in the sport, will put a dent in that image.

Postgame interview with Staley. “I’m of integrity. If I did something wrong to Geno, I had no idea what I did. I guess he thought I didn’t shake his hand pregame.”

I was watching. She shook hands with everyone in the vicinity of the UConn bench.

South Carolina 62-48 UConn, 30.8 seconds left, fourth quarter: Fudd’s night of wayward shooting continues. South Carolina rebounds, and once again, Latson goes to the line. She has hit 9-of-9. Make it 10.

Strong puts her shoulder down and drives, getting a foul. See, Coach Auriemma? When your players drive, that’s when you get fouls called your way.

Strong misses the first and hits the second.

South Carolina 60-47 UConn, 1:00 left, fourth quarter: Latson coolly hits another free throw, and another.

South Carolina 58-47 UConn, 1:05 left, fourth quarter: Heckel misses a layup and bursts into tears. How much pressure must these players be facing when they’ve won 54 in a row?

Timeout UConn.

South Carolina 58-47 UConn, 1:21 left, fourth quarter: Latson hits two free throws to push the lead to 10.

Heckel loses the handle. UConn furiously presses but can’t force a turnover. Fudd fouls. We’re at that point in the game at which the Huskies simply have to stop the clock,

Edwards hits the first of two free throws but misses the second.

South Carolina 55-47 UConn, 1:45 left, fourth quarter: Tessa Johnson misses, but Latson shakes off contact for her 10th rebound. What a game for the Florida State transfer.

South Carolina 55-47 UConn, 2:11 left, fourth quarter: Strong gets away with a foul. The ball bounces out of play. South Carolina maintains possession and calls timeout.

ESPN gives South Carolina a 99% chance of winning. I’ll say 62.2%. Exactly.

South Carolina 55-47 UConn, 2:35 left, fourth quarter: Fudd airball.

Edwards tries a tough shot in the paint and draws the back of the rim.

UConn goes in motion, with players racing around the arc and dropping short passes until they find an open player. This time, it’s Strong, who ends a long field-goal drought with a 3-pointer.

Another good defensive sequence for UConn.

Blocked shot for South Carolina, but the Huskies swarm Edwards. The Gamecocks can barely break the pressure, but when they do, they have a 4-on-1, and Mateer converts. She’s making a huge difference in this half.

Latson drives but can’t get it to fall. Okot does. The lead is eight again.

ESPN’s stat feed gives South Carolina an 88.1% chance of winning. That’s ridiculous. The Huskies have already shown how quickly they can erase a deficit. And whether it was Auriemma’s tirade or just a coincidental swing, South Carolina is certainly not getting the benefit of the doubt from the officials any more.

Connecticut fans had a lot to do with getting ESPN off the ground nearly 50 years ago. Color commentator Rebecca Lobo is a legendary UConn alum herself, though she tends not to betray any bias in her excellent commentary.

South Carolina 51-44 UConn, 5:53 left, fourth quarter: A bit of a lapse from UConn’s defense there, and McDaniel scores in transition.

Shade misses for UConn. Latson drives past Quiñónez and draws the first-year UConn player’s fourth foul. Off the inbound play, Mateer hits a long 3-pointer, and Auriemma calls timeout.

South Carolina 46-44 UConn, 6:37 left, fourth quarter: Strong fouls Edwards.

Auriemma’s hair has gone grayer over the course of this game.

KK Arnold hounds Raven Johnson defensively and forces a held ball. Possession to UConn. The Huskies’ role players have had a spectacular game while the stars have struggled.

Quiñónez hits two free throws.

South Carolina 46-42 UConn, 7:38 left, fourth quarter: Fudd hits a 3.

For what it’s worth, the second foul on Edwards this quarter was softer than the midsection of a middle-aged couch potato.

Heckel hustles to maintain possession for UConn. She drives, but Raven Johnson emphatically swats the shot away.

South Carolina 46-39 UConn, 8:41 left, fourth quarter: Makeer pushes the South Carolina lead to seven with a blazing-fast drive.

Edwards is called for a foul, South Carolina’s second of the quarter.

Edwards is called for another foul. South Carolina’s third of the quarter. Auriemma’s rant might be having some impact.

Geno Auriemma just dropped a four-letter word in an interview during the intermission. He’s upset that all of the fouls in the third quarter were called against their team, while “their coach” rants and raves and says terrible things to the refs.

“Their coach” has a name. She’s Dawn Staley, who was a fantastic player in her day and has built this South Carolina program from scratch.

The four leading scorers in this game each have 10 points. That’s Latson, Edwards and Tessa Johnson for South Carolina, and Shade for UConn.

South Carolina 40-39 UConn, 0:46 left, third quarter: South Carolina thought they had UConn trapped, but the Huskies work the ball around to a wide-open Quiñónez, who atones for her fouls by hitting the open 3-pointer. Raven Johnson turns it over, and at last, Azzi Fudd hits a 3.

Nine points in about 90 seconds.

South Carolina 40-33 UConn, 2:11 left, third quarter: Quiñónez fouls Latson. The South Carolina player hits both free throws, and the Gamecocks have a double-digit lead.

Heckel is stunned to find herself open from six feet out, and her shot draws the front rim. But UConn fights to keep the ball, and Heckel hits a three.

South Carolina 38-30 UConn, 3:09 left, third quarter: Edwards draws a foul from Strong and has a chance to put the Gamecocks up 10, but her first free throw is too … well, strong. She misses her second as well.

Strong bangs hard in the post to create some space but still misses a shot.

It’s chaos now.

Expected:

For South Carolina, Joyce Edwards has 10 points, and Madina Okot has seven rebounds.

For Connecticut, Sarah Strong has eight points and six rebounds.

Unexpected:

For South Carolina, Raven Johnson is 1-for-5.

For Connecticut, Ashlynn Shade has 10 and Azzi Fudd has two.

South Carolina 38-30 UConn, 4:16 left, third quarter: Quiñónez races out of control down the lane and misses a layup. Tessa Johnson rushes a shot at the other end and barely hits the rim.

Ashlynn Shade finds her range again, hitting from the free throw line.

Edwards restores the eight-point lead. She follows up with a steal and draws a foul in transition from Azzi Fudd.

Timeout on the court.

South Carolina 36-28 UConn, 5:35 left, third quarter: Okot drains two free throws to put South Carolina up by four. KK Arnold answers with a sharp change of direction and a layup. Edwards scores on a forceful drive.

UConn misses, gets a rebound and resets, but Raven Johnson steals again. This time, the Huskies get back quickly and disrupt her drive.

Shade has gone cold for UConn.

Latson, who scored several early points for South Carolina, hits two free throws. ESPN’s graphic tells us this is the largest deficit UConn has faced this season.

And now it’s even more, as Makeer hits from the baseline. UConn calls timeout.

South Carolina 28-26 UConn, 7:30 left, third quarter: South Carolina continues its outstanding offensive rebounding but can’t finish in three tries. But at the other end, Raven Johnson picks off a pass and races for a layup, her first points of the game.

South Carolina 26-26 UConn, 8:45 left, third quarter: Turnover by Raven Johnson, airball by Azzi Fudd. Strange game this is.

Okot scores for the first time, and we’re tied.

Back underway …

South Carolina’s lowest score of the season is 60, in a 60-56 win over Kentucky in their regular season finale. They were held to 61 in the SEC final, losing 78-61 to Texas.

UConn’s low is 63 from their 63-42 win over North Carolina in the Sweet 16. They broke 70 in every other game.

Some stats

Rebounds: South Carolina 24-16. Imagine if Strong didn’t have six rebounds for UConn.

Field goal percentage: UConn 40-31

3-pointers: South Carolina 1 for 2, UConn 1 for 8

Leading UConn scorers: Strong 8, Shade 8, Williams 4 (and hasn’t been seen since midway through the first), three players with 2 each.

Leading South Carolina scorers: Edwards, Latson and Tessa Johnson with 6 each. Makeer has 5, McDaniel 1.

South Carolina 23-26 UConn, 1:10 left, second quarter: Not the restart Staley had in mind, as UConn picks off a pass and is off to the races. But the Huskies can’t finish, and South Carolina continues to have a rebounding edge.

Ashlynn Shade once again pops free for a 3-pointer … nope, her foot is on the line again. She still picks up two points to run her total to eight.

South Carolina 23-24 UConn, 2:08 left, second quarter: Quiñónez gets her first points on a nifty post move. South Carolina rushes things at the other end, and then Azzi Fudd’s first points of the game put UConn out in front. Dawn Staley calls timeout.

South Carolina 23-20 UConn, 3:05 left, second quarter: Wild shot by Mateer misses, but UConn takes two inaccurate shots at the other end. South Carolina beats UConn back down the court, with Edwards converting the layup. Edwards gets back on defense to pick up a steal.

South Carolina 21-20 UConn, 4:28 left, second quarter: Ashlynn Shade wasn’t the person you might have expected to keep UConn close, but she’s doing just that, as she runs her point total to six. After another South Carolina miss, Sarah Strong makes a … well, strong move in the lane to pull the Huskies within one. They tie up the ball and will have possession after the media timeout.

South Carolina 21-18 UConn, 5:35 left, second quarter: Tessa Johnson hesitates as if unable to believe how open she is after a South Carolina inbounds play.

Another miss for UConn, and Edwards scores in the post at the other end. The Gamecocks are on a tear.

South Carolina 17-16 UConn, 7:15 left, second quarter: Sarah Strong takes a turn on the breakaway, poking the ball free and racing upcourt. Maddy McDaniels fouls the UConn star to put on the free throw line. She clanks the first off the rim but hits the second.

South Carolina 17-15 UConn, 7:47 left, second quarter: South Carolina pokes the ball free, and Latson has a breakaway. She easily converts.

Fudd misses a 3-pointer. She has not yet scored.

The defenses are back in the ascendancy.

South Carolina 15-15 UConn, 8:30 left, second quarter: Raven Johnson picks up a second quick foul. Coach Dawn Staley gives a look of disapproval.

South Carolina 15-15 UConn, 9:00 left, second quarter: Missed opportunity on defense for South Carolina, as they force UConn to run down the shot clock but allow the Huskies to reset after Raven Johnson commits a foul.

South Carolina 12-15 UConn, 1:35 left, first quarter: Pretty fadeaway jumper from Kayleigh Heckel, who transferred to UConn from the other USC (Southern California).

Quiñonez commits the game’s first foul, and Agot Makeer hits both free throws.

South Carolina 10-13 UConn, 2:03 left, first quarter: UConn brings in impressive first-year player Blanca Quiñonez, but she shows a bit of inexperience by stepping over the baseline for a turnover.

Good work in the post by Joyce Edwards to pull South Carolina within three.

South Carolina 8-13 UConn, 3:27 left, first quarter: We’ve hit the first media timeout.

Both teams sputtered at the start but have figured things out offensively. The defenses are solid – UConn has already forced a shot clock violation, and South Carolina nearly did so at the other end – but these teams have too much offensive talent to hold back for too long.

South Carolina 8-13 UConn, 3:55 left, first quarter: And as I type that, Sarah Strong bails out her team with a 3-pointer as the shot clock nears zero. She scores again after another Okot miss, and the Huskies are already running away.

Tessa Johnson responds with a layup and then a jumper.

Shade hits a long 2 – this is frenetic stuff.

South Carolina 4-6 UConn, 5:49 left, first quarter: Williams again after some dizzying ball movement.

Tessa Johnson rushes things for South Carolina at the other end. UConn misses on their next possession but forces a turnover with a tough trap along the baseline. They miss a 3-pointer, and Latson ties it.

Ashlynn Shade scores for UConn – the big names for each side have been held scoreless as the teams collect their first 10 points.

South Carolina 2-2 UConn, 7:35 left, first quarter: Great defense by the Huskies to force Madina Okot to take a long jump shot. She seems uncomfortable with it and misses the rim, yielding a shot clock violation.

Serah Williams picks up the first points for UConn.

One minute to go? Maybe?

The national anthem is finished … but we still have nearly 10 minutes until tipoff. What they plan to do until then, I have no idea. Classwork?

AP All-Americans in the Final Four …

First team
Sarah Strong, UConn
Azzi Fudd, UConn
Madison Booker, Texas
Lauren Betts, UCLA
(Also Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt)

Second team
Joyce Edwards, South Carolina

Third team
Kiki Rice, UCLA
Raven Johnson, South Carolina

Honorable mention
Rori Harmon, Texas
Gianna Kneepkens, UCLA
Ta’Niya Latson, South Carolina

Since last year …

In last year’s Final Four, Connecticut beat UCLA 85-51 in the semifinals and finished off South Carolina 82-59 in the final.

The defending champion Huskies had to reload after No. 1 overall WNBA draft pick Paige Bueckers departed, along with Kaitlyn Chen and Aubrey Griffin. To give some idea of how deep that team was – Griffin averaged 11.1 minutes per game and played just three minutes in the final, but she was still taken in the WNBA draft. Connecticut had two players with 24 points each in the final, Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong, and they’re both ready to run it back tonight.

South Carolina came into the tournament as the defending champions, having fended off Caitlin Clark’s Iowa team the year before. Like UConn, the Gamecocks had three players picked in the WNBA draft – Te-Hina Paopao, Sania Feagin and Bree Hall. MiLaysia Fulwiley transferred to LSU. Two senior transfers, Madina Okot (Mississippi State) and Ta’Niya Latson (Florida State), have joined senior Raven Johnson and junior Tessa Johnson in an experienced starting lineup in which the only younger player is second-team All-American sophomore Joyce Edwards.

Thanks, Ella and Stephanie, for making me cry. (I went to Duke. The Blue Devils came agonizingly close to a championship a few times, but they needed some rebuilding by the time Kara Lawson took over.)

Would anyone know anything about the University of Connecticut if they didn’t have the most dominant women’s basketball team of the past 30 years? What? They have a men’s team? I’m unfamiliar with that. I know Duke lost in the Elite Eight (same day at the women), but I think they lost to Southern California or Hofstra or Georgia or someone.

Back to the games at hand today – these teams’ presence in the Final Four is a surprise to exactly no one. They were all here last year. They were No. 1 seeds. Is it a good thing that women’s college basketball is so predictable? I asked that question recently.

But tonight, we have the potential for two fascinating games. If any teams can give UConn a game, it’s the three other teams in Phoenix.

Enjoy.

Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, read Stephanie Kaloi’s piece on the word echoing throughout this year’s NCAA Tournament, through the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

Kara Lawson’s Duke team saw their Final Four dreams dashed with a 70-58 loss to UCLA on Sunday. The Blue Devils had pulled an impressive, buzzer-beating upset of No 2 seed LSU in the Sweet 16 days before, but against the No 1 Bruins in the Elite Eight, they didn’t give a repeat performance. They missed a few key moments in transition that could have changed the game and helped them to their first Final Four in 20 years.

In the end, though, it was OK.

“I told the group after the game, just before we came up here, what a great season it’s been for us. And this group has been a joy to coach every day,” Lawson told reporters after the game. Duke lost six of their 13 games played between 3 November and 28 December, and many had written off the team before they even had a chance to get into a groove.

“From where we started to where we finished, I don’t know that there’s a team that grew more than we did in the country, from where we started to where we finished,” Lawson added. “That is all because of our players, their belief, their faith and their trust in each other and our staff. That’s hard to find. That’s rare.”

Suffering a big loss that simultaneously ends a team’s March Madness hopes isn’t easy to swallow, and summoning joy from that experience isn’t for the weak. But over and over again, that’s what players and coaches have done so far during this tournament cycle. While there’s been plenty of emphasis on what went wrong and how it can be fixed before next season, there’s also been an intentional focus on what went right, too.