The 2025 women's Final Four is set. One day after No. 1 seeds UCLA and South Carolina punched their tickets, fellow No. 1 seed Texas beat TCU, sealing its first Final Four appearance since 2003. In the night's final -- and most marquee -- matchup, No. 2 UConn upset the USC Trojans, playing without star JuJu Watkins after her season-ending ACL injury.
We tracked every minute Monday's games, with live updates and analysis from courtside. And for more on this year's Final Four matchups, we've got it all here.
Jump to: Full results and analysis | Relive the action
(2) UConn Huskies vs.
(1) USC Trojans
Final: UConn 78, USC 64
How UConn beat USC: With a complete performance against a USC team missing leading scorer JuJu Watkins. Up as many as 19 points early in the third quarter, the Huskies looked like they might cruise to their 16th Final Four in the last 17 tournaments. Give the Trojans credit for cutting the deficit to just five heading to the final period, but UConn reestablished control down the stretch, starting with an Azzi Fudd triple on the opening play of the fourth that took the lid off the basket for her. USC got no closer than nine points in the final seven minutes of play.
After scoring a combined 74 points over the last two games, including a career-high 40 in Saturday's Sweet 16 win over Kansas State, Paige Bueckers took a back seat early to freshman Sarah Strong. Bueckers still finished with a game-high 31 points on 9-of-18 shooting, including four 3-pointers, while Strong had a double-double of 22 points and 17 rebounds. Defensively, the Huskies held the Trojans to 33% shooting. USC's leading active scorer, Kiki Iriafen, needed 15 shots to score 10 points.
The No. 1 factor that helped UConn reach the Final Four: Bueckers. After relatively poor performances in the Huskies' three regular-season losses, including 9-of-22 shooting in the first matchup with the Trojans back in December, there were questions about her play in the biggest moments -- but that seems like ancient history in the wake of this run.
Bueckers' three consecutive games with 25-plus points gave her eight in her four NCAA tournament runs -- tied for the second-most by any player in the last 25 years, per ESPN's Research. And it's not just Bueckers' scoring that makes her the nation's best player. She added six assists Monday and an emphatic block of Trojans guard Talia von Oelhoffen. At least one more big game awaits for Bueckers in her last try for an elusive NCAA championship, but she couldn't have done anything more en route to Tampa.
UConn's key in the Final Four: Matching up with deep, physical frontcourts. The Huskies are relatively inexperienced in the post, where they start two freshmen (Strong and Jana El Alfy, the latter in her third year on the roster but first on the court). That duo will be tested by 6-foot-7 UCLA star Lauren Betts in Friday's semifinal, with either South Carolina or Texas looming should UConn advance.
None of the other three teams in Tampa can match the Huskies' perimeter firepower with Bueckers, Fudd and Strong. If UConn can play relatively even in the paint, Geno Auriemma and company will cut down the nets for the first time since 2016. --Kevin Pelton
(2) TCU vs.
(1) Texas
Final: Texas 58, TCU 47
How Texas beat TCU: One word: defense. The Longhorns forced 21 turnovers and held TCU to 12 made field goals. This season, TCU has averaged 28.4 made field goals per game, shot 48% from inside the arc, and 38% from 3-point range. Not Monday: Texas held TCU to 26.7% from the floor and 20% from beyond the arc. On the offensive end for the Longhorns, neither Madison Booker nor Rori Harmon shot well, but they made shots when Texas really needed them, scoring 18 and 11 points, respectively.
The No. 1 factor that helped Texas reach the Final Four: The Longhorns' composure was the difference. TCU entered this game riding high after beating Notre Dame, and Texas could have played tight -- as the higher-seeded team and 7.5-point favorites, the pressure was on the Longhorns. Instead of letting that get to them, the Longhorns played like the top seed.
Texas' key in the Final Four: This was an ugly offensive game for both teams. When they face South Carolina for the fourth time this season, the Longhorns' biggest question won't be whether they can stop the Gamecocks, but if they can score enough when it matters most. In their three meetings, Texas has averaged 53.7 points and broke 60 in only one of them -- the one they won. Teams have mucked it up with South Carolina, but disrupting the Gamecocks' offense and beating them are two different things. To pull off the upset, Texas' offense likely will come from Booker. When these two teams met in the SEC championship, Booker struggled, scoring 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Texas will need more from her to earn a berth in a national championship game. --Katie Barnes
