04/05/26 09:51:00
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04/05 09:49 CDT South Carolina meets UCLA in NCAA women's title game seeking a
4th title as Bruins chase their 1st
South Carolina meets UCLA in NCAA women's title game seeking a 4th title as
Bruins chase their 1st
By DOUG FEINBERG
AP Basketball Writer
PHOENIX (AP) --- Dawn Staley and South Carolina are seeking for a fourth
national championship in the last nine years when they meet UCLA in the NCAA
women's basketball title game Sunday.
The Gamecocks have reached the championship game in four of the past five
seasons while the Bruins are playing in their first NCAA title contest.
Both teams played stifling defense in the semifinals of March Madness, with
South Carolina knocking off UConn 62-48 to end the Huskies' 54-game winning
streak on Friday night. UCLA was even more stingy on the defensive end in its
51-44 win over Texas.
South Carolina and UCLA have played each other many times over the past few
seasons, but this time the stakes couldn't be higher.
The Bruins have been on a mission this season since losing to UConn in the
Final Four last year. It was the Bruins' first-ever trip to the national
semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. With most of the key players back from that
team along with a couple of new additions, UCLA ran through the regular season,
with the only setback a November tournament loss to Texas in Las Vegas.
Cori Close and her team will try to hang a championship banner to go with the
one the school won by taking the 1978 AIAW title, which was the postseason
tournament for women's basketball before the NCAA took over in 1982.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and
coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
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