Photo courtesy of Unsplash.
In the first official Women’s March Madness Tournament, the South Carolina Gamecocks were named the 2022 National Champions, but there was more madness to be had this March.
First announced in September 2021, the 2022 tournament would be the first year the women’s tournament would be allowed to use “March Madness” in branding, advertisements, merchandise, and even on the courts. This was a huge step from the NCAA that was the result of the backlash they received after the blatant differences between the tournament “bubbles” in March 2021. And while this is something to applaud, there is much to still be corrected when it comes to valuing women’s basketball the same as men’s. Just a few of the issues still yet to be resolved include a lack of financial bonuses (called The Unit) to conferences represented in the tournament, the NCAA actually disincentivizing companies from sponsoring women’s college sports, and travel accommodations are staggeringly inequitable. Much of this is covered by Lindsay Gibbs in her “no-bullshit newsletter about sexism in sports” called Power Plays – a subscription I highly recommend if you are looking for more information on gender inequalities in sports. But I digress, let’s get to the games…
Round of 64
Usually one of the less shocking rounds, this year was different. The Cinderella stories of #12 Belmont, #10 Creighton, and #10 South Dakota started with wins over #5 Oregon, #7 Colorado, and #7 Ole Miss, respectively. Other big upsets included #12 FGCU over #5 Virginia Tech, #11 Princeton over #6 Kentucky, and #11 Villanova over #6 BYU. This year, the top 16 seeds hosted the first two rounds of the teams in their respective region, giving the host a home-court advantage. Some argue that the host teams are less likely to lose in their home arena, and they’re probably right, but the stands were packed at nearly every single game because at least one team’s fans didn’t have to travel to the games. And while there were no host upsets in the first round (which is rare with the top 16 teams anyways in the first round) there were some surprises in the second round.
Round of 32
Now we get to the good stuff. 5 of the 16 host schools were upset in the second round. #2 Iowa led by sophomore phenom Caitlyn Clark, lost to #10 Creighton by 2 thanks to a go-ahead 3 from Iowa transfer Lauren Jenson to secure the upset against her former team. #4 Arizona was last year’s runner-up, but they lost to #5 North Carolina by nearly 20 points despite the sold-out crowd in Tucson. South Dakota continued their improbable run with an upset against #2 Baylor, ending the Bear’s 12-year streak of Sweet 16 appearances. #6 Ohio State joined the upset party, taking out #3 LSU and their coach, the mighty Kim Mulkey. Finally, rounding out the excitement of the second round is #5 Notre Dame’s dominance over #4 Oklahoma, beating them 108-64. The Fighting Irish were led by freshman phenom Olivia Miles, who is also the first freshman to record a triple-double in the NCAA Tournament.
Sweet 16
The Sweet 16 consisted of four #1 seeds, two #2 seeds, three #3 seeds, two #4 seeds, two #5 seeds, one #6 seed, and two #10 seeds. Who said Women’s March Madness is boring?! There were some phenomenal games in this round, including a 3-point victory for NC State over Notre Dame for the Wolfpack’s first Elite 8 trip since 1998. The Irish appeared to have the game locked up behind 21 points from Miles, but a steal by NC State’s Raina Perez with 18 seconds left in the game put the Wolfpack up by 1. Perez sealed the deal 15 seconds later by hitting 2 free throws to give her team the win. South Dakota gave Michigan a scare, but the Wolverines squeaked out a 3 point win, ending the Coyote’s historic run. The only team to continue their upset streak was the Creighton Bluejays with a 76-68 win over Iowa State.
Elite 8
This was one of the more predictable rounds, but that doesn’t mean the games were competitive. South Carolina, the number 1 team overall, continued their dominance by ending the Cinderella story of Creighton, 80-50. The Louisville Cardinals secured another Final 4 berth behind the leadership of sophomore Hailey Van Lith and coach Jeff Walz, beating the Michigan Wolverines. Michigan’s Naz Hillmon ends her career as “the greatest player in Michigan women’s basketball history” according to her teammate, Danielle Rauch. The defending champion Stanford Cardinal clinched their 9th Final 4 appearance with a 59-50 win over the Texas Longhorns. In a matchup of legendary coaches, Tara VanDerveer of Stanford and Vic Schaefer of Texas battled it out, going punch for punch, only to have the Cardinal make a series of free throws towards the end to secure their win. Even without looking at the score, this game was full of future and current stars: Rori Harmon and Aaliyah Moore are sure to make some noise at Texas next year, and Stanford’s all-star lineup of Anna Wilson, Fran Belibi, Haley Jones, and twins Lacie and Lexie Hull are names you’ll want to remember for the future. And the final game of the Elite 8 was NC State versus the pride of Connecticut, the UConn Huskies. An instant classic, the UConn Huskies beat the NC State Wolfpack in a double-overtime game. National sensation Paige Bueckers scored 15 of her 27 points in the overtime periods and added a few clutch shots at the end of regulation as well. Freshman Azzi Fudd played all but one minute of the game, adding 19 of her own points. NC State had 5 players scoring double digits, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Geno Auriemma and his squad.
Final 4: Four teams left led by four of the best coaches of all time – Dawn Staley, Jeff Walz, Tara VanDerveer, and Geno Auriemma – met up in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the 2022 March Madness Final 4. No surprise four of the best teams all season made it this far, but now they needed to figure out who would fight for the championship. The South Carolina Gamecocks put on a defensive clinic, holding Louisville’s Van Lith to just 9 points. National Player of the Year Aliyah Boston showed us all why she deserves that award, recording 23 points and 18 rebounds in just 35 minutes. The consistent #1 team in the country, the Gamecocks maintained their dominance and punched their ticket to the championship with a 72-59 win over Louisville. The highly anticipated matchup between the Stanford Cardinal and the UConn Huskies did not disappoint. The game was neck-and-neck and with 20 seconds left in the 4th quarter, the Huskies were up by 2. In what felt like the longest 20 seconds of all time, some key free throws by UConn’s Christyn Williams and Aaliyah Edwards secured a 63-58 victory and sent the Huskies back to the championship for the 12th time in the last 30 years.
Championship
In a battle of women’s basketball giants, the National Championship game of UConn vs South Carolina was highly anticipated. A little background on these teams: UConn is women’s college basketball royalty and Auriemma is their king. They’ve made the NCAA Tournament every year for the past 34 years, and they’ve won 11 of those but haven’t made it to the championship game since 2016. The South Carolina Gamecocks truly came on the scene a little over 10 years ago. And if Auriemma is the king of women’s college basketball, then Staley is the queen.
The former WNBA All-Star has been with the Gamecocks since 2008 and has taken the program to their only 2 championship games, including this year. Staley is also the highest-paid coach in women’s basketball following a contract extension signed in October 2021. She will make $2.9 million in the 2021-22 season and her salary will increase by $100K every year until the end of her seven-year contract when she will have made a total of $22.4 million over the 7 years. Going into last Sunday’s game, both coaches had never lost an NCAA Championship game.
From the opening tip, the Gamecocks made sure there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that they were the best team in the county. South Carolina was up 22-8 after the first quarter. Even with a strong second quarter from the Huskies, the score was 35-27, Gamecocks. UConn was able to bring the score to 46-39 at the start of the fourth quarter, but South Carolina had no intention to take their foot off the gas. Boston finished the game with a double-double, recording 11 points and 16 rebounds. Senior Destanni Henderson put up a career-high 26 points and had the difficult assignment of guarding Bueckers, which she did well, forcing her to shoot under 50% from the floor.
When the clock ran out, the Gamecocks were National Champions for the second time in 5 years. Boston celebrated the redemption of last year’s runner-up season on the court with a smile, some happy tears, and a shoutout to her idol Candace Parker, who was in the stands. Boston will return to South Carolina for her senior year in pursuit of another championship before most likely entering the WNBA.
And on that note, college basketball may be over and the NBA season is coming to an end soon too, but the WNBA is just kicking off! The WNBA Draft was on April 11 and the season will start in May. South Carolina’s Destanni Henderson will be drafted, as will UConn’s Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Evina Westbrook, and Christyn Williams. The future is bright for women’s basketball.
