All-America forward Sarah Strong scored 21 points, Blanca Quiñonez added 20 and defending national champion UConn beat Notre Dame 70-52 on Sunday, sending coach Geno Auriemma and the Huskies to their 25th Final Four.
The Huskies (38-0), who have won 54 games in a row, clinched the first spot for the Final Four in Phoenix. They will be going for their 13th national championship.
Azzi Fudd, UConn’s other first-team AP All-America pick, added 13 points and four assists.
Hannah Hidalgo had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Fighting Irish (25-11), plus three more steals to increase her NCAA single-season record to 202 and single NCAA Tournament mark to 29. But she also had five turnovers, the first time in her 10 NCAA Tournament games with more turnovers than steals.
The ninth NCAA Tournament meeting between the Huskies and the Irish was their first with a spot in the Final Four on the line. They had both made it that far the first eight times they met in March Madness, the last in 2019 when Notre Dame won a semifinal game over UConn and then lost to Baylor in the title game.
In Sunday’s other game, Lauren Betts had 23 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks to help UCLA rally from a rare halftime deficit and beat Duke, advancing to the Final Four for the second straight season.
The top-seeded Bruins will play either Texas or Michigan in Phoenix on Friday in the national semi-finals. UCLA are two wins away from the program’s first NCAA title.
Third-seeded Duke tested UCLA (35-1) like few teams this season. The Bruins struggled to get going offensively or contain the Blue Devils (27-9), who reached their second straight Elite Eight on a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Ashlon Jackson against LSU in the Sweet 16. Taina Mair scored 21 points to lead Duke, which also lost in a regional final last year.
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