DALLAS — UConn’s record 111-game winning streak came to a startling end Friday when Mississippi State pulled off perhaps the biggest upset in women’s basketball history, shocking the Huskies, 66-64, on Morgan William’s overtime buzzer beater in the national semifinals.
William hit a 15-footer to cap it, moments after a replay review awarded UConn two free throws for a flagrant-1 foul call that tied the game with 26.6 seconds left.
The Bulldogs (34-4) will play South Carolina for the national championship Sunday night in a matchup of SEC teams.
Mississippi State and UConn met in the Sweet 16 last season and the Huskies won by 60 points — the biggest win in regional semifinals history. All season long the Bulldogs had that humiliating loss on their minds.
Now they've erased that defeat, beating UConn (36-1) — which had won the last four national championships.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma had a wry smile on his face after the final shot. There wasn’t much else he could do, another title suddenly beyond his grasp.
Mississippi State led 64-62 before a replay review gave Katie Lou Samuelson the two free throws that tied the game. After a UConn turnover, William held the ball at the top of the key before dribbling to her right and pulling up for the shot, with the ball in the air when the buzzer sounded.
The Bulldogs ran onto the court, piling up at center court while UConn players stood stonefaced. Mississippi State coach Vic Schaefer grabbed William in a bear hug, with former Mississippi State star Dak Prescott — the Dallas Cowboys quarterback — helping lead the cheers.
UConn rallied from a 16-point deficit, its biggest during its NCAA record streak, to take a 59-56 lead in the fourth quarter. The teams were tied at 60 when the Bulldogs had a chance to win it in regulation, but William’s shot was blocked, sending the game into overtime.
The Huskies hadn’t lost in 865 days, with that defeat coming to Stanford on Nov. 17, 2014.
Neither team scored much in OT with Teaira McCowan’s layup with 1:12 left in the extra session breaking a 62-62 tie. It was the lone basket for Mississippi State in OT until William’s winner.
During their last two decades of dominance where they've won 11 national championships, the Huskies rarely found themselves trailing — let alone by double digits. This was the first time this season that UConn was losing in the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs got off to a great start, taking it right at the Huskies like not many teams had done during the streak. The Bulldogs led 15-13 before scoring 14 straight points to go up 29-13. It was the biggest deficit UConn had faced during its historic streak and one of the largest during the last 22 years, which the Huskies have dominated with 11 national championships.
The Huskies rallied to within 29-25 as senior Saniya Chong scored 7 points during a 12-0 run.
Mississippi State answered and was up 36-28 at the half.
. . .
Allisha Gray scored 18 points, A'ja Wilson had a double-double, and South Carolina is going to its first national championship game after beating Stanford, 62-53.
Wilson had 13 points and 19 rebounds for the Gamecocks (32-4), who lost in the semifinal of their only other Final Four appearance two years ago.
They went ahead to stay with 13 straight points in the third quarter.
Stanford (32-6) took a big hit when senior star guard Karlie Samuelson sprained her right ankle about 4½ minutes before halftime after the Cardinal had taken an 8-point lead with a 13-1 run.
South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, who played for Tara VanDerveer on the US women’s team that won the 1996 Olympic gold medal, won as a coach against the Stanford coach for the first time in six tries.
Staley also made three consecutive Final Four appearances as a player for Virginia from 1990-92. Two of those included semifinal losses to VanDerveer and the Cardinal on way to their only national titles (1990, 1992).
Samuelson was hurt when she was making a move toward the basket, and stepped on the foot of South Carolina guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore. Samuelson’s right foot then slid onto the floor before twisting awkwardly. She grabbed near her ankle with both hands after falling down.
Samuelson, who finished scoreless while playing 25 minutes and taking only two shots, returned to start the second half. But she was back on the bench after only 73 seconds, standing behind the bench briefly while stretching her ankle and grimacing in pain. She entered the game several more times after that, but clearly was far from being 100 percent.
The senior guard’s younger sister, Katie Lou, played for UConn in the second semifinal game Friday night in the home of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. The four-time defending national champion Huskies played Mississippi State.
Erica McCall had 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Cardinal, but made only 7 of 19 shots. Alanna Smith had 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The Gamecocks went ahead, 35-33, when Wilson, with defenders surrounding her as they did much of the game, found Bianca Cuevas-Moore open for a 3-pointer that she hit from right in front her teammates on the bench.
Stanford missed three shots on its next possession, and South Carolina quickly extended the lead on freshman Tyasha Harris’s one-handed bullet pass to Doniyah Cline, who was open under the basket for a layup. That was the only assist for Harris, who finished with 10 points.
