And then there were four in the 2025 women’s NCAA Tournament.
Three No. 1 seeds — UCLA, South Carolina and Texas — punched their tickets to Tampa Bay, Florida to the Final Four, which tips off on Friday. UConn is the lone No. 2 seed to advance after knocking out No. 1 USC, which was not at full strength following the season-ending ACL injury of JuJu Watkins. UConn advanced to its 24th Final Four in program history, which marks the most all-time in men’s or women’s college basketball.
On the other side of the spectrum, UCLA is making its first Final Four appearance. ‘It feels great. Everyone came to UCLA for this reason, to do something we haven’t done in a really long time or in the NCAA era, and so just really proud, proud of my teammates, the staff, the coaches of just continuing to get better every day and grow from each season prior,’ guard Gabriela Jacquez said after the Bruins’ Elite Eight win over No. 3 LSU.
Texas is set to make its fourth Final Four appearance, while South Carolina is through to the semifinals for the fifth consecutive season and the seventh overall. Here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 women’s NCAA Tournament, including a breakdown of each Final Four matchup and the best players to watch:
No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 1 Texas
Time, TV: 7 p.m. ET on Friday (ESPN)
South Carolina did just enough to keep their title defense alive. The Gamecocks have struggled to find their offensive rhythm in the tournament so far. South Carolina scored a season-low 54 points in its Elite Eight win over No. 2 Duke on Sunday. They only made a season-low 19 field goals on a season-low 44 attempts from the field and South Carolina’s bench — which leads the nation in points per game (41.5) — was held to only nine points. Their top-notch defense even faltered, giving up 41 rebounds (19 offensive) to an undersized Duke lineup. South Carolina has been able to grind out ugly wins, but the Gamecocks must clean up their shot selection and rebounding if they want to win back-to-back national championships. That won’t be easy against a high-scoring Texas offense led by SEC Player of the Year Madison Booker. The Longhorns defense shouldn’t be overlooked either. Texas held TCU to a season-low 47 points and Hailey van Lith to just 3-of-15 shooting in the Longhorns’ Elite Eight win over the Horned Frogs. With the win, Texas advanced to the Final Four for the first time since 2003.
There’s history between SEC foes Texas and South Carolina. The Longhorns and Gamecocks ended the regular season as co-champions with matching 15-1 records in SEC play. Because the SEC foes split the season series — South Carolina took the first matchup 67-50 at home in January, while Texas won the second matchup 66-62 in February, ending South Carolina’s 57-game SEC win streak. The No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament was decided by way of a coin flip. South Carolina won the coin flip and conference tournament’s No. 1 seed, but proved their place at the top was no fluke with a blowout 64-45 win over Texas in the SEC championship early March.
Texas and South Carolina will face off for the fourth time this season in the Final Four. The Gamecocks are vying for their third national championship appearance in four seasons. The Longhorns are in pursuit of their first title game appearance since 1986, when the program won its first and only title.
TEXAS LONGHORNS: Women’s basketball roster breakdown: Madison Booker, Rori Harmon stats
No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 2 UConn
Time, TV: 9:30 p.m. ET on Friday (ESPN)
UCLA women’s basketball has finally broken through. Prior to this season, the Bruins had only advanced as far as the Elite Eight and never played in the final weekend. Until now. UCLA advanced to its first Final Four appearance following a 72-65 Elite Eight win over No. 3 LSU. The Bruins showcased their depth in the win. Gabriela Jaquez led the way with a career-high four 3-pointers, including a crucial 3 with 1:29 remaining to give the Bruins a 62-53 advantage that the Tigers couldn’t overcome. Lauren Betts was limited to 17 points, seven rebounds and six blocks after picking up two fouls in the first quarter. UCLA will be tasked with slowing down Paige Bueckers and the Huskies, who are in pursuit of their fist national championship since 2016. UConn has the highest field goal percentage in the nation (51.05%), while simultaneously holding opponents to the lowest point total (51.7). Bueckers is red-hot and has scored 30+ points in three consecutive games, the most by a UConn player in that span. She’s complemented by Big East Freshman of the Year Sarah Strong, who has looked far from a rookie during the tournament. Strong joins Maya Moore as the only freshmen in UConn history to record 600-plus points.
This marks the first matchup of the season between UConn and UCLA. UConn is making its 24th Final Four appearance and the 16th in the last 17th tournaments. Meanwhile, UCLA is in uncharted territory. Will experience
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