By Jay Rosquites
EBC Florida Bureau
TAMPA, FL (Eagle News) – The road to the NCAA championship title began Friday night at Amalie Arena with the first Final Four showdown between the overall number-one seed, the Baylor Lady Bears and the Oregon Ducks. Aiming for their third championship title, the Lady Bears hold the best record, losing one game during the regular season. The Ducks, led by their point guard, Sabrina Ionescu, made their first Final Four appearance in school history.
The Ducks would end the first half confident, up 34-33. Entering the third quarter, the Lady Bears put up 16 more points in the paint, led by the ‘posts duo’ of Lauren Cox and Kelani Brown. However, four Lady Bears turnovers, kept the Ducks afloat. Oregon forwards, Satou Sabally and Erin Boley contributed to 13 points to keep the game tight, trailing Baylor with only one point going into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter was a slugfest, with each team fighting for ball control. Oregon’s Sabally nailed a 3-pointer, tying the game at 67 points with under two minutes to go. Baylor’s Chloe Jackson made the go-head layup, giving the Lady Bears the lead. Oregon was forced to foul Cox, who nailed her free-throws. Nonetheless, Baylor ran away with the win with the final score of 72-67, ending Oregon’s Cinderella run.
“I’m just happy to be part of this team right now,” Baylor Head Coach, Kim Mulkey said.
“I have to be real careful how much I challenge them because you want them to be unselfish, but at the same time you probably saw it tonight, there was a time Kalani was down deep and turned and go score the ball. But she did. She exerted herself there in the second half”.
As for Oregon, the Ducks head into the off-season with their head held high, working hard to earn their first Final Four appearance. .
“They played like champions today, deserved to move on. That’s a great basketball team,” stated Oregon head coach, Kelly Graves. “We tried our best. We worked hard. In the end, they made plays and we didn’t. But I’m really proud of our team, no question about it.”
Ionescu finished with 45 assists in the NCAA tournament, ranking her third all-time in the tournament.
“We got to this stage that our program has never got to. So I think learning through this game and learning through the previous years, it’s just going to get us ready to want to come back,” said Ionescu.
Despite losing in the semifinals, Oregon finished their season 33-5 overall, and has an NCAA tournament record of 15-15 and 10-3 under head coach Graves. The Lady Bears will seek their third title against defending champions, Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Sunday.
(Eagle News Service)