Women's Final Four 2022 - UConn senior trio saves Huskies' season, national title hopes

MINNEAPOLIS — With 11 seconds left and UConn clinging to a two-point lead, senior guard Christyn Williams stepped up to the free throw line. The ref tossed the ball to Williams, and the lefty took her customary dribble, bent her knees and floated the ball toward the bucket. It dropped through the net. Same with the second one.

The foul shots gave UConn a four-point lead and all but sealed the Huskies' 63-58 victory, sending them to the national championship game for the first time since 2016. For four consecutive NCAA tournaments, UConn had lost in the Final Four. But on this fifth trip — the final one for this senior class that had never played in a national championship game — Evina Westbrook, Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Williams were determined not to lose.

«You can't come here as a senior, and hope that someone else wins it for you,» said UConn coach Geno Auriemma, whose Huskies will play No. 1 overall seed South Carolina on Sunday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) for the NCAA title.

Westbrook ignited the Huskies early, coming off the bench in the second quarter to replace Aaliyah Edwards, who had just picked up her second foul.

With Dorka Juhasz out with a fractured wrist, Westbrook was the next player up in the post. After missing her first two shots, Westbrook spotted up for a corner 3 and drilled it. She made three of four 3-pointers in the first half as the Huskies had a one-point lead at the break.

«Somehow, some way, when she gets into big games, she finds a way to knock in two or three of them,» Auriemma said. «And it happens every time we need (her) to. I would say she was probably the most valuable player in the game (Friday).»

If Westbrook set the tone in the second quarter, Nelson-Ododa and Williams shouldered that burden