Gamecocks hold off Blue Devils

NCAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT ROUNDUP

South Carolina in Final Four for the fifth consecutive year

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South Carolina forward Chloe Kitts (21) and Duke guard Oluchi Okananwa (5) battle under the basket during the first half of Sunday’s Elite Eight NCAA college basketball tournament game in Birmingham, Ala. GERALD HERBERT — ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Chloe Kitts scored 14 points and defending national champion South Carolina reached the Final Four of the women’s NCAA Tournament for a fifth straight year, beating Duke 54-50 on Sunday.

Dawn Staley took a victory lap around the court, giving high-fives to fans and South Carolina’s band and even autographing the rear end of a baby’s pants.

The Gamecocks’ coach has her team back in a familiar place — the Final Four of the women’s NCAA Tournament. This time, South Carolina had to grind out a close game to get there.

The top-seeded Gamecocks are two wins away from becoming the first team to repeat as champions since UConn won four straight from 2013-16.

South Carolina will play the winner of the Texas-TCU game that takes place Monday night.

The Final Four is in Tampa, Florida, on Friday night.

Second-seeded Duke was looking to get to its first national semifinals since 2006. The Blue Devils women were also looking to join the men’s program in the Final Four.

UCLA 72, LSU 65 >> Lauren Betts had 17 points and seven rebounds despite spending the entire second quarter on the bench, and top overall seed UCLA reached its first Final Four of the women’s NCAA Tournament with a victory in the regional final.

The 6-foot-7 Betts added six blocks for the Bruins (34-2), who will face the winner of Monday’s game between Southern California and UConn. The Final Four is Friday night in Tampa, Florida.

Gabriela Jaquez had 18 points and eight rebounds for the Bruins and Timea Gardiner finished with 15 points, helping to pick up the slack went Betts went to the bench after committing two first-quarter fouls.

UCLA won a national title in 1978 in the pre-NCAA era of women’s basketball, but this was its first NCAA regional final victory in three tries.

Flau’Jae Johnson scored 28 points to lead third-seeded LSU (31-6), which won the national title two years ago under coach Kim Mulkey but has now been eliminated in the last two Elite Eights.

The Tigers closed within 46-41 to start the fourth quarter, but could not climb any closer than that.