The Women’s NCAA championship commenced on April 3. The no.1 and no.2 seeds faced each other in a hard-fought game. 

South Carolina started with an 11-2 lead four minutes into the game. They outrebounded and out hustled Uconn(University of Connecticut) before they could get into their groove. By the end of the first quarter, Oliva Nelson-Ododa, starting center for Connecticut, had 2 fouls with South Carolina, extending their lead to 22-8.

South Carolina kept their pressure on and outrebounded 16 to 9. 13 of the 16 rebounds were offensive and had 16 second-chance points(points from an offensive rebound). At half-time, the Gamecocks still had the lead 35-27 with the Uconn Huskies having a slight comeback.

In the third quarter, South Carolina held Connecticut to just 2 points in the first 5 minutes. When the Gamecocks made substitutions, their offense went stagnant and allowed the Huskies to start making a run of their own. 

They scored 10-0 bringing the lead to within 6 but unfortunately point guard Destanii Henderson scored a 3 for South Carolina in the late quarter.

In the early fourth quarter, Henderson scored two back-to-back layups, making Connecticut take a time out. Paige Bueckers, the Huskies star player, had a quiet 14 points by the end of the game but was the only Huskie to score in double digits. 

Henderson had a career-high of 26 points and Aaliyah Boston, starting center for South Carolina, had 11 points and 16 rebounds. The win for South Carolina 64-49 was very entertaining and massed 4.85 million viewers. 

At its highest point, 5.91 million viewers made it the most-watched college basketball game on ESPN since 2008. Congratulations to the South Carolina Women’s team beating Connecticut in their 11-0 winning streak in NCAA championship games.