UConn women's basketball

Live updates, highlights, and results from South Carolina's championship win over UConn in the 2022 NCAA women's basketball national title game.

0:00 4Q: What a performance from South Carolina. The Gamecocks defeat UConn 64-49 to win the 2022 national title. She gets the ball on the rim whenever she wants. You can make the most mistakes you’ve ever made coaching a game, and your team will find a way to win.” * Tonight will mark South Carolina’s second time in the women’s basketball national championship game. 0:00 2Q: At the end of the first half, South Carolina leads UConn with a score of 35-27. “I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that she might be the hardest person in America to guard. “I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that she might be the hardest person in America to guard. It’s the second national title for the program, both coming under the leadership of head coach Dawn Staley (2017, 2022). And oh, by the way, you’re a senior? 4:18 4Q: Can you imagine scoring a career high in the national championship game? ESPN’s Holly Rowe reports that “a bug” has been going around the UConn team, and notes that Evina Westbrook was seen limping at halftime. UConn already has a short roster, with just 10 players dressed tonight compared to 15 for South Carolina.

The Gamecocks (35-2) become the first team to defeat UConn in the title game, winning the national championship for the second time after first claiming it in ...

With the Gamecocks momentarily stunned, Ducharme drained the Huskies’ first 3-pointer of the game at the two-minute mark in the third. The Gamecocks began celebrating on the bench. “Just want to say UConn played an incredible game today,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. The Huskies came out of intermission and again couldn’t get shots to fall. But with Nelson-Ododa, Westbrook and Ducharme each with two fouls, Auriemma had to reach for his reserves earlier than in any other game this season. Passes were sloppy and slow and rolled out of bounds or were picked off by the Gamecocks. Bueckers played the full quarter but missed her lone shot and grabbed a single rebound. You can’t win if you don’t get it at either end, you got to get it one end or the other and we knew that was going to be a struggle today, but the way Henderson played too, I mean that was something that we knew couldn’t happen,” Auriemma said. Azzi Fudd was limited to just five minutes in the first half after missing the morning shoot-around due an illness. South Carolina was the better team Sunday starting from the opening tip. Her chance at lifting up a national championship trophy in her hometown was denied by South Carolina’s suffocating defense. “Super proud of this team for how far we’ve come and all the adversity we’ve dealt with and all we’ve overcome to get to this point. The Huskies were previously 11-0 in such games.

One year after a heartbreaking loss in the Final Four, No. 1 South Carolina found redemption, earning the program's second national championship with a ...

The Gamecocks scored the final three points of the frame and then six of the first eight points in the fourth to cushion their lead. South Carolina started hot, scoring 13 of the game's first 15 points and jumping out to a 30-12 advantage early in the second quarter off a Henderson 3. Though she made only three shots from the field, Boston got to the line eight times, twice the amount of trips made by the entire UConn squad. She also chipped in four assists, two rebounds and a tough defensive effort against 2020-21 national player of the year Paige Bueckers (14 points). Their five straight NCAA tournaments without a championship mark the longest the program has gone since earning its first title in 1995. And I think it just shows the type of program that she's built."

UConn women's basketball lost to the South Carolina Gamecocks in the 2022 national championship game, 64-49. South Carolina set the tone early and often, ...

This is the first time the Huskies have ever lost a national championship game. The Huskies struggled from the start. South Carolina set the tone early and often, outscoring the Huskies 21-4 in the first five minutes of each half.

Destanni Henderson scores a career-high 26 points in leading the Gamecocks over UConn. Aliyah Boston is named Most Outstanding Player of Final Four.

UConn went on a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to six points before South Carolina scored the final three points of the quarter to take a nine-point lead into the fourth. They began the year with a nine-point win over North Carolina State and beat defending champion Stanford by four in December before dispatching Louisville in the Final Four. South Carolina also managed two wins against UConn, one in the Bahamas in November and on Sunday night – the most important of all. UConn fought its way back in that second quarter, outscoring South Carolina 19-13 in the frame, but still trailed 35-27 at the break. On the other side, 2021 player of the year Paige Bueckers had a tougher go of things. The Gamecocks outrebounded the Huskies 12-3 in the first quarter, with seven offensive rebounds. The first quarter concluded with South Carolina out in front, 22-8.

Westbrook stopped, leaned against a wall and slid to the floor, sobbing, inconsolable. She remained there until helped to her feet by UConn associate head coach ...

And then there was Westbrook, broken, overwhelmed, going to the floor and needing help up to finish a journey, one UConn will look back on with a great sense of accomplishment. Never had a UConn team experienced what this was did Sunday. Auriemma walked to the locker room with his head down. Never had a UConn team experienced what this one did all season. Juhasz had broken a wrist against NC State and unavailable in Minneapolis. Azzi Fudd became ill Saturday night, missed Sunday’s shootaround and largely ineffective in 16-plus minutes of the game. Outside, Destanni Henderson poured in 26 points and every South Carolina guard locked up every UConn guard, making even possessions that ended up in scores feel like a twisted mess. Auriemma and his program entered a perfect 11-0 in national title games but the players on this particular team were experiencing the final step of an NCAA Tournament for the first time. Those players showed some pluck, pulling to within eight at halftime after trailing by 16 early. Super proud of this team for how far we’ve come and all the adversity we’ve dealt with and all we’ve overcome to get to this point. So the Huskies, as Sunday night became Monday morning, felt like they lost everything by losing, thoroughly, to the clear-cut best team in America. That’s the nature of sports. Westbrook stopped, leaned against a wall and slid to the floor, sobbing, inconsolable.

The Gamecocks went wire to wire as the AP No. 1 team and closed the year as national champions.

On Sunday night, it was Dawn Staley and South Carolina's turn to take the spotlight and make some history of their own. And none of those stats take into account how she wore out UConn's defenders, who had to battle her on the block and on the glass all game long. With number of key players from this team, including Boston, coming back next season, the Gamecocks will be favorites to win it all again. South Carolina's performance on Sunday, and over the past six months, showed she's worth every penny, if not more. They would never relinquish that lead, thanks in large part to Henderson's impressive play on both ends of the floor. On Sunday night in Minneapolis, South Carolina held off UConn in a low-scoring game, 64-49, to claim the second title in school history. Boston still had a huge impact on the game, and recorded her 30th double-double on the season with 11 points, 16 rebounds, three assists and two blocks. With so much talent on this South Carolina team, it was hard at times for players not named Aliyah Boston to stand out. She either scored or assisted on 13 of the team's 22 made field goals. Henderson led the way for the Gamecocks with 26 points, four assists and three steals. While UConn, as expected, made a few runs here and there to hang around, they never seriously threatened to take the lead. On the very first possession of the game, Destanni Henderson hit a 3-pointer to give South Carolina the lead, and they never let it go.