NCAA Women’s Tournament 2025: Paige Bueckers stars, UConn returns to Final Four

The 2025 NCAA Women’s Tournament continued Monday with the final day of Elite Eight action. 

[Read more: 2025 Women’s March Madness Schedule: Dates, locations, channels, how to watch]

First, Madison Booker and No. 1 seed Texas took down Hailey Van Lith and No. 2 seed TCU. Then, Paige Bueckers and No. 2 seed UConn dominated top-seeded USC to reach its fourth Final Four in five years. 

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

Here were the highlights from Monday’s games!

Paige Bueckers leads UConn past JuJu Watkins-less USC

UConn earned a record 24th trip to the Final Four of the women’s NCAA Tournament with a 78-64 win over USC on Monday night.

USC stuck around through most of the first half, until Paige Bueckers erupted in the final minute of the second quarter, knocking down consecutive 3-point shots to give UConn a double-digit advantage. 

The Huskies cruised for the most part from that point on. Bueckers ended with 31 points, shooting 9-of-18 from the field, and hit four 3-point shots. Sarah Strong had a career-high 17 rebounds and added 22 points. Her ability to outplay USC post player Kiki Iriafen created an advantage for the Huskies that the Trojans could not overcome. 

Iriafen finished with 10 points on 3-of-15 shooting. While she struggled, fellow USC post Rayah Marshall led the Trojans with a career-high 23 points and added 15 rebounds. 

UConn will return to the Final Four for the fourth time in five years and will face No. 1 UCLA on Friday in Tampa Bay. 

Fans undoubtedly anticipated a rematch between Bueckers and JuJu Watkins when the brackets were announced, but the matchup lost some luster when the Trojans’ star guard tore an ACL in the second round and needed surgery.

While the Trojans got past Kansas State in the Sweet 16 without Watkins, they had a tougher challenge against UConn and Bueckers, the likely No. 1 overall pick in next month’s WNBA draft.

UConn led by 19 points in the third quarter, but USC got within 51-46 going into the fourth. Bueckers and Azzi Fudd made consecutive 3-pointers that extended the Huskies’ lead to 62-48.

Avery Howell’s 3-pointer closed the gap to 70-61 with 1:04 left, but the Trojans got no closer.

USC was seeking its first Final Four appearance since 1986 and first title since going back-to-back in 1983 and ’84.

Texas beats TCU to move on to first Final Four since 2003

The Longhorns used a surge at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter to pull away from the Horned Frogs. With the 58-47 win, No. 1 seed Texas made it back to the Final Four for the first time since 2003. It will now face No. 1 seed South Carolina on Friday in Tampa Bay.

Madison Booker scored 18 points on 8-of-17 shooting against TCU. She grabbed six rebounds and had two steals.

Kyla Oldacre came off the bench to score nine second-half points, including a clutch and-1 layup, and helped to limit TCU’s Sedona Prince to just four points. Prince, ultimately, fouled out with 6:32 remaining in the fourth quarter. 

After shooting 46.7% across three NCAA Tournament games, Haley Van Lith went 3-of-15 from the field. She ended with 17 points in her collegiate finale, getting most of her offense from the free-throw line, where she shot 10-of-11. 

After falling behind by 14, TCU pulled within six with 2:42 remaining on four straight points from forward Deasia Merrill. Consecutive jumpers from Booker and Rori Harmon put the Longhorns back up by 10, and the Horned Frogs never got any closer.

Texas won a regional final for the first time in four tries under coach Vic Schaefer, who previously made two Final Four trips with Mississippi State. The Longhorns’ 35 wins are one more than its only national title-winning squad had in 1986 under Jody Conradt, who was in the stands Monday night and led Texas to its three previous Final Fours.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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