UConn Huskies dethrone defending national champion Stanford, advance to first title game since 2016

MINNEAPOLIS — No. 2 seed UConn defeated No. 1 seed and defending national champion Stanford 63-58 in the semifinal game to advance to the program's first women's basketball title game since 2016.

The Huskies will take on 1-seed South Carolina, which has been the top-ranked team all season and beat UConn 73-57 on Nov. 22, for the title Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN

UConn is 11-0 in the national title game in program history. The Huskies, whose last national title came in 2016, are looking to avoid their longest streak without a national title since they won their first in 1995.

Stanford was hoping to become the fourth team in NCAA tournament history to repeat as national champion, joining USC, UConn and Tennessee.

Sophomore Paige Bueckers and redshirt senior Evina Westbrook led the Huskies with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Stanford cut an eight-point UConn lead to two with 1:26 to go, but senior Christyn Williams hit a pair of free throws with 11 seconds on the clock, and sophomore Aaliyah Edwards added one with four seconds to play, to seal the win.

The game featured a matchup between the two winningest coaches in the sport, who have combined 2,306 wins, and was the fifth national semifinal matchup between the two programs.

UConn was called for nearly twice the number of fouls as Stanford in the first half; Edwards and freshman Azzi Fudd played just eight and 11 minutes, respectively, in that span after each picking up two fouls.

Senior Olivia Nelson-Ododa, the Huskies' only big remaining after graduate Dorka Juhasz was lost to a season-ending wrist injury in the Elite Eight, was forced to play through her own pair of fouls.

Stanford failed to take advantage, holding the lead for just 34 seconds during the first 20