ALBANY, N.Y. — Getting to the Final Four never gets old for Geno Auriemma and his UConn Huskies.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis scored 27 points to help UConn beat Dayton 91-70 in the Albany Regional final to advance to the national semifinals for an eighth straight season. Now the Huskies stand two wins away from a third straight national championship. They accomplished that same feat from 2002-04.
Unlike the first three games of the tournament when UConn won by an average of nearly 48 points, the Huskies got all they could handle from the seventh-seeded Flyers, who weren’t intimidated by the top seed for the game’s first 20 minutes. Trailing at the half for the first time in two seasons, UConn scored the first nine points of the second half during a 15-3 run to take a 58-47 lead with 13:56 left.
A little more than a minute later, Mosqueda-Lewis hit her fifth 3-pointer of the game giving her 393 in her career to break the NCAA record for 3s. That made it 62-49. Dayton (28-7) couldn’t get within seven the rest of the way.
UConn will play Maryland in the national semifinals Sunday night.
Maryland 58,
Tennessee 48
SPOKANE, Wash. — Maryland is going back to consecutive Final Fours and for the second straight year the Terrapins pushed aside Tennessee to get there.
Lexie Brown scored 13 of her 15 points in the second half, Brionna Jones added 14 points and nine rebounds and top-seeded Maryland advanced to its second straight Final Four with a 58-48 win over Tennessee on Monday in the Spokane Regional final.
Brown hit three 3-pointers in the second half as the Terrapins (34-2) overcame their lowest-scoring first half of the season to knock out Tennessee from the NCAAs for the second straight year.
It’s the fifth Final Four appearance for the Terrapins and third under coach Brenda Frese.
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough added 12 points for the Terrapins, who held Tennessee to one field goal over the final 5 minutes. Maryland has won 28 straight games.
Ariel Massengale led Tennessee (30-6) with 16 points, but the Lady Vols missed their chance at reaching the Final Four for the first time since 2008.
Next up for the Terrapins: Connecticut in the national semifinals. The Terrapins lost to Notre Dame in last year’s national semis.
South Carolina 80,
Florida State 74
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Tiffany Mitchell scored seven of her 21 points in the final two minutes and South Carolina beat Florida State 80-74 on Sunday in the Greensboro Regional final for its first Final Four berth.
South Carolina will face Notre Dame on April 5 in Tampa, Florida.
Alaina Coates finished with 14 points, A’ja Wilson added 10 and Asia Dozier hit four free throws in the final 20 seconds for the top-seeded Gamecocks (34-2).
Playing from behind for most of the day, they shot 61 percent while rallying to win their seventh straight and keep the best season in school history going.
Leticia Romero scored 13 points for the second-seeded Seminoles (32-5).
Notre Dame 77, Baylor 68
OKLAHOMA CITY — Lindsay Allen scored 23 points to help top-seeded Notre Dame beat Baylor in the regional final for a spot in its fifth consecutive Final Four.
Allen, who scored a career-high 28 points in the regional semifinal victory over Stanford on Friday, followed that by making 10 of 16 shots and adding seven assists. Michaela Mabrey scored 14 points and Jewell Loyd added 13 points for the Fighting Irish (35-2). They have won 21 straight.
Nina Davis had 26 points and 13 rebounds for second-seeded Baylor (33-4).