UConn and Texas prevail in Elite Eight matchups to advance to women’s Final Four

The UConn Huskies and Texas Longhorns join the South Carolina Gamecocks and UCLA Bruins in the Final Four of the 2025 women’s NCAA basketball tournament.

The UConn Huskies and Texas Longhorns are headed to Tampa, Florida, and the Final Four of the women’s NCAA basketball tournament after each emerged victorious from their Elite Eight contests Monday night. The Huskies and Longhorns join the South Carolina Gamecocks and UCLA Bruins, who each advanced to college basketball’s biggest stage with wins on Sunday. In the evening’s nightcap in Spokane, Washington, the No. 2 seed UConn Huskies took down the No. 1 seed University of Southern California Trojans 78-64. With USC dedicated to trying to slow down UConn’s national player of the year finalist Paige Bueckers, the Huskies turned to freshman forward Sarah Strong, who scored a impressive 15 points in the first half. After holding Bueckers in check much of the first half, the star senior hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute of the half to bring her total to 13 points as the Big East champs took a 39-25 advantage into the intermission. UConn looked to have the game in hand, leading by as many at 19 points in the third quarter, but USC ended the 3rd quarter on an 11-0 run to cut the deficit to five points with the score 51-46.