[2] In the game, the Gamecocks jumped out to an 18-point lead early in the second quarter and held off UConn scoring runs to win the national championship, 64–49.

1 seed in the Greensboro Regional, where they won handily against Howard and Miami on their home court, then defeated a scrappy No.

[7] Coached by Hall of Famers Geno Auriemma and Chris Dailey and led by last year's player of the year Paige Bueckers, UConn utilized eleven different starting lineups; eight different players led the Huskies in scoring in games during the season.

In December, Bueckers suffered a broken bone in her knee,[8] which kept her out of play for nineteen games, but she rejoined the team in late February with limited minutes until the NCAA Tournament.

[9] Bueckers's injury gave Auriemma and Dailey unexpected opportunities to develop blue-chip freshmen as scorers,[10] while three seniors and several experienced sophomores anchored the team.

[11][12] UConn lost regular season games against unranked Georgia Tech, Oregon, and Villanova, while losing to No.

At the Bridgeport regional, UConn defeated Indiana, then emerged victorious in a game that announcers called an "instant classic", a two-overtime 91–87 contest against No.

This was again broken by a Ducharme layup, which narrowed the South Carolina lead to single digits for the first time since the score was 13–4 with four minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Evina Westbrook and Henderson traded layups and Bueckers made a jump shot, which narrowed the deficit to seven points, and a free throw by Saniya Rivers with 23 seconds left bumped the lead to eight.

[18] UConn continued their scoring run with three-point shots from Ducharme and Westbrook,[18] and their 10–0 streak cut the Gamecocks' lead to six points.

Azzi Fudd and Bueckers made three-pointers for UConn with 4:09 and 3:23 to play, respectively, which brought the lead to within ten points for the final time.

UConn began fouling around this time, as the game's next five points were scored on free throws by Henderson, Saxton, and Hall.

From there, Boston would score two free throws with 1:15 remaining before the Gamecocks would be able to run the clock out and claim their second national championship, 64–49.