Canada's Laeticia Amihere, top-seeded South Carolina down Louisville to reach title game

Aliyah Boston had 23 points and 18 rebounds to back up her AP National Player of the Year award and carry South Carolina to the NCAA championship game with a 72-59 victory over Louisville in the semifinals on Friday night.

Brea Beal matched her season high with 12 points and helped hold Cardinals star Hailey Van Lith to nine points on 4-for-11 shooting as the Gamecocks (34-2) delivered another stifling defensive performance.

Canada's Laeticia Amihere scored a point, added two assists and two rebounds in 15 minutes of playing time for South Carolina.

Fellow Canadian Merissah Russell played for just one minute for Louisville.

4Q: Another postseason game with double-figure points for Beal! She gets an easy one off the helper from Rivers, now with 12 tonight.<br><br>ESPN: <a href="https://t.co/IAwlCJF1Ti">https://t.co/IAwlCJF1Ti</a><br>STATS: <a href="https://t.co/gWBAs5ShHQ">https://t.co/gWBAs5ShHQ</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MarchMadness?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MarchMadness</a> <a href="https://t.co/YfG41NVgLX">pic.twitter.com/YfG41NVgLX</a>

The Dawn Staley-led Gamecocks will face the Connecticut-Stanford winner on Sunday night at Target Center. Staley will try to win her second national championship, eight months after the Hall of Famer led the U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in the Tokyo Games.

"You see happy tears, happy tears, right now," Boston said in her post-game TV interview. "I'm just thanking God we have one more game."

Destanni Henderson scored 11 points with 3-for-6 shooting from 3-point range and had four assists for South Carolina, which improved to 13-0 this season against AP-ranked opponents.

Emily Engstler led Louisville with 18 points and nine rebounds as the Cardinals went 1 for