The national championship dreams of the UConn women’s basketball team died in the desert Friday night.

South Carolina defeated the Huskies 62-48 in Phoenix and will move to the title game on Sunday against UCLA, which ousted Texas 51-44. All four teams at the Final Four were regional No. 1 seeds, with the Huskies the highest seed.

Gone is the undefeated season for UConn (38-1). The 54-game winning streak done. The stellar college career of Azzi Fudd over. The hopes of back-to-back national titles after the Huskies won the program’s 12th last season – defeating South Carolina 82-59 – dashed.

No. 13 apparently was unlucky.

UConn was hampered throughout the game by South Carolina’s swarming defense, which held the Huskies to 31.1% shooting. UConn entered as the top-shooting team in the nation at 52% but rarely had a chance to get into its offense.

South Carolina (36-3) tied the hands of All-Americans Fudd and Sarah Strong, limiting Fudd to eight points on 3-of-15 shooting, 2 of 9 from 3-point range. Strong – who has swept the Player of the Year awards this season – led UConn with 12 points and 12 rebounds but was only 4-of-16 shooting from the field.

The last time UConn was held to fewer than 50 points was by South Carolina in the 2022 national title game, 64-49.

UConn now is 11-6 all-time against South Carolina, 2-2 in NCAA Tournament play. At the end of the game, the head coaches – Geno Auriemma and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley – exchanged words and had to be separated.

In an earlier in-game interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe, Auriemma blasted the officials about the lack of foul calls against South Carolina and implied Staley had intimidated the referees.

For the game, 17 fouls were called on UConn, leading to 22 free-throw attempts for the Gamecocks. UConn took just six free throws on eight South Carolina fouls.

Anything you can do, I can do better.

Those lyrics to a 1940s song fit South Carolina on Friday night, out UConn-ing the Huskies, excelling in the areas UConn has dominated this season.

The Gamecocks took over on the glass, out-rebounding the Huskies 47-32. On 42 missed shots (19 of 61), UConn managed only nine offensive boards and three second-chance points.

South Carolina scored 34 points in the paint compared to 20 for UConn, who couldn’t get numerous short shots and layups to drop. They forced 10 UConn turnovers and turned the ball over 15 times, erasing the huge advantage the Huskies ordinarily have in points off turnovers.

South Carolina also pulled off two long scoring runs, a trademark of the Huskies.

In the first quarter, the Huskies were up 11-4, and the Gamecocks closed out the quarter by the same score for a 15-15 tie.

UConn took a two-point lead into the half, 26-24, but a 16-4 South Carolina run in the third quarter put the Gamecocks up by 10 – the first double-digit deficit for the Huskies throughout the season.

Kayleigh Heckel, Blanca Quinonez and Fudd hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the South Carolina lead to 40-39, but the Gamecocks closed the quarter with four points to take a 44-39 lead into the last frame.

South Carolina steamrolled UConn in the final quarter, outscoring the Huskies 18-9 and ending on an 11-1 run. UConn was 1-of-12 shooting to end the game and didn’t score a field goal in the final 4:39.

Ta’Niya Lawson led the Gamecocks with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Agot Makeer added 14 points, Joyce Edwards had 11 plus eight rebounds. and Tessa Johnson scored 10.

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