Chloe Kitts scored 14 factors and defending nationwide champion South Carolina reached the Ultimate 4 of the ladies’s NCAA Match for a fifth straight 12 months, beating Duke 54-50 on Sunday.
Coach Daybreak Staley’s top-seeded Gamecocks are two wins away from turning into the primary workforce to repeat as champions since UConn gained 4 straight from 2013-16. South Carolina will play the winner of the Texas-TCU recreation that takes place Monday evening.
The Ultimate 4 is Friday evening in Tampa, Florida.
Second-seeded Duke was seeking to get to its first nationwide semifinals since 2006. That workforce misplaced in additional time to Maryland within the title recreation. The Blue Devils ladies had been additionally seeking to be a part of the boys’s program within the Ultimate 4.
South Carolina (34-3) was stymied for many of the recreation by Duke’s stingy protection. The Gamecocks got here in averaging 80.5 factors, however factors had been tough to come back by Sunday.
The sport was tied at 46-all when Sania Feagin, who completed with 12 factors, hit a jumper to place the Gamecocks forward with 4:21 left. Kitts added two free throws 42 seconds later to make it 50-46.
Toby Fournier, who led Duke with 18 factors, scored with 3:21 left to get the Blue Devils (29-8) again inside two.
The Blue Devils trailed 52-50 with 29.8 seconds left when South Carolina’s Bree Corridor was referred to as for an offensive foul on an inbound play, giving Duke an opportunity to tie the sport.
Duke labored the clocked down earlier than Ashlon Jackson airballed a 3-pointer from the wing with 7 seconds left. Corridor obtained the rebound and South Carolina referred to as timeout.
Kitts was fouled with 5.7 seconds left and calmly sank each free throws to seal the win a lot to the delight of a majority of the 11,252 followers in attendance who made the trek to Alabama.
Duke turned over the ball on the following inbound play and the Gamecocks ran out the clock.
The Blue Devils trailed 26-22 on the half earlier than beginning the third quarter with a 16-6 run to take their first lead for the reason that opening minutes. Fournier’s layup with 2:27 left made it 38-32. The Gamecocks trailed 42-38 heading into the fourth.
This was the primary time the groups had met within the postseason.
Initially Revealed: March 30, 2025 at 3:45 PM EDT
