What to Watch in the N.C.A.A. Women’s Championship Game

Since then, Staley has recruited in addition to or higher than UConn Coach Geno Auriemma, has come near matching his wage, and has made her group a constant menace for a deep run within the match.

She has not returned to the title recreation till now.

If she will be able to win the Gamecocks their second championship, this system’s standing as a powerhouse will probably be confirmed; in the event that they lose, it could be seen as proof that UConn’s dominance persists regardless of all the expansion that has occurred across the sport.

Can South Carolina rating sufficient?

South Carolina is aware of the important thing to its recreation is a suffocating protection. The query is whether or not its guards, who underperformed in among the early rounds, can provide you with sufficient factors to remain forward of the Huskies.

Destanni Henderson and Zia Cooke sank essential 3-point pictures in opposition to Louisville, however the Huskies held Stanford — sometimes a powerful group from behind the arc — to simply 4 triples within the semifinal. The Gamecocks guards should get inventive to complement Aliyah Boston’s constant and prolific scoring.

Aliyah Boston will in fact be a focus.

Boston gained this 12 months’s Naismith Trophy earlier this week, and that implies that this 12 months’s and final 12 months’s (Bueckers) finest faculty basketball gamers will compete for the sport’s most vital prize.

Boston, a 6-foot-5 ahead, has performed remarkably over the previous two video games, padding the field rating however extra crucially enjoying with poise and management. She has prevented fouling out of frustration and located methods to make groups pay for double- and triple-teaming her.

She might want to summon that energy and persistence another time this season if the Gamecocks are to beat the Huskies.

If the Ultimate 4 video games are any indication, this championship recreation will probably be a bodily one. South Carolina hasn’t been significantly efficient from the free throw line this season, making simply 67.7 p.c of its pictures. However the Gamecocks made a better proportion of their possibilities in opposition to Louisville, principally because of Boston’s spectacular consistency. In what seems to be a tightly fought matchup, benefiting from these alternatives will probably be vital.