Women’s basketball to duke out UConn in Elite Eight
Both teams had narrow wins in their respective Sweet 16 games and will compete for the Final Four in Portland, Oregon.
By KASEY KAZLINER
The No. 1-seeded Trojans could only sit in the stands and wait to find out who they’d be facing in the Elite Eight.
After taking down No. 5 seed Baylor (26-8, 12-6 Big 12) in the Sweet 16, USC (29-5, 13-5 Pac-12) watched No. 3 seed University of Connecticut’s (32-5, 18-0 Big East) gritty victory against No. 7 seed Duke (22-12, 11-7 ACC) that set the stage for a star-studded matchup between USC and UConn — two teams with varying degrees of historical success.
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“Huge task in front of us,” said Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb the morning after defeating the Bears. “UConn is an incredible program, and more importantly, their team this year is playing as well as anybody.”
USC’s thrilling 74-70 victory against the Bears was the Trojans’ eighth consecutive win and closest one in the NCAA Tournament thus far. The Huskies, victors of 11 national championships — the most of all time — led by as many as 20 points against the Blue Devils; while UConn got complacent, it still held on to win 53-45.
“To UConn’s credit, they have evolved and become a very unique team this season,” Gottlieb said. “I don’t think we’re playing against the history of that program. The history of our program pours into us, but the game is the game, with two good teams facing off.”
The upcoming meeting will be the third ever between USC and the Huskies, with the most recent occurring in 2003. The matchup will feature two highly touted backcourt prospects: Trojans freshman guard JuJu Watkins and UConn’s redshirt junior guard Paige Bueckers.
In addition to leading their respective teams in scoring, Watkins and Bueckers have also been anchors of the defensive end. Both guards eclipsed 50 blocks on the season and aren’t afraid to pickpocket opponents, either.
Both players are coming off game-leading scoring figures as Watkins posted 30 and Bueckers tallied 24. Additionally, both Watkins and Bueckers have reached double digits in points in all but one game this season.
The contest will also feature a post battle between USC’s junior center Rayah Marshall and Huskies senior forward Aaliyah Edwards. Edwards might be more of a scoring threat, averaging 17.5 points per game as opposed to Marshall’s 10.2, but Marshall has more of a defensive prowess in the paint with 64 blocks, 30 more than Edwards’ totals.
A bid to the Final Four is on the line. The Trojans hope to return to the penultimate round for the first time since 1986 while UConn looks to make it back after falling short last season and snapping its 14-year Final Four streak.
“This whole season we’ve felt like we’ve had something to prove,” said USC graduate guard Kayla Padilla. “Individually, we have experiences that allow us to really just want to embrace this moment and cherish it for what it is.”
The Trojans will take on the Huskies at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon on Monday at 6:15 p.m.
