Aliyah Boston, No. 1 South Carolina hold off No. 5 North Carolina to reach Elite Eight
No. 1 overall seed South Carolina held off No. 5 North Carolina, 69-61, to advance to the Elite Eight in what has been its closest game of the NCAA women's basketball tournament.
The Gamecocks (32-2) will face the winner of No. 3 Iowa State and No. 10 Creighton in the Greensboro semifinal regional.
All-America junior center Aliyah Boston took her game up another level in reaching her 27th consecutive double-double early in the third quarter. Her 22 rebounds is a season-high and 28 points is one off her best 2021-22 mark set in November. Her 12 offensive rebounds were more than that of the entire North Carolina team.
"In this game I think a lot of it just went to slowing down and being patient," Boston said. "We worked on that over the past couple of practices and me reading the defense. And so once I did that, I just went to score."
Boston, the leading candidate in the national Player of the Year conversation, is the third player since 2000 with at least 25 points and 20 rebounds in a tournament game, per the ESPN broadcast.
Gamecocks guards Zia Cooke and Destanni Henderson stepped up offensively in the first half after a rough first weekend of NCAA tournament play. The team collectively hit more shots (23-of-69) than a sub-30% outing against Miami in the second round that raised concerns about South Carolina's championship chances.
"At this point it's about winning basketball games. It doesn't have to be pretty," Staley said on the ESPN broadcast as the fourth quarter was beginning Friday.
South Carolina didn't make a field goal for three minutes in the fourth between buckets by Boston. She had three free throws in the span and North Carolina climbed to within five points. The Gamecocks went on another three-minute dead stretch at the end. Boston scored all 13 points in the fourth quarter that North Carolina won, 16-13.
Positive signs for South Carolina offense
Signs for a good South Carolina night came early. Boston scored an easy bucket off the tip and put in the first five points. Henderson hit two 3-pointers that made it 11-2 and Cooke added one of her own. The Gamecocks combined to shoot 10-of-19, including 6-of-11 from 3-point range, for 26 points at halftime. Boston was one point away from a double-double.
"I think once they saw we started to hit a few threes, they started to come up on us, and they were able to bring Aliyah some good buckets," Cooke said. "We were still able to get some shots, and we were still able for them to get rebounds for us, so it was pretty good."
Cooke and Henderson cooled off in the second half as Boston took control amid those cold stretches. The guards went 11-of-33 and added only one basket by Henderson in the second half. They hit a combined six 3-pointers and Bree Hall added a seventh.
Deja Kelly leads North Carolina
The Tar Heels (25-7) were hot early and didn't cool off that much, shooting 46.2% throughout the game. But they were 3-of-11 from 3-point range and 10-of-16 at the free-throw line. They tied South Carolina on the boards in the first quarter and led, 23-22. UNC's first-quarter total was nearly half of the 50.2 points per game South Carolina allows on average.
Deja Kelly had a team-high 23 points hitting half of her 18 attempts and adding five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. Alexandra Zelaya came off the bench to score 10 points. Alyssa Ustby had a team-high eight rebounds against the tall South Carolina post.
