Tag: 2022 NCAA women’s tournament

Destanni Henderson was the X factor in South Carolina’s national championship win

It was Destanni.

It was Aliyah Boston’s South Carolina against Paige Bueckers’ UConn. That’s how the women’s national title game was billed – and for good reason.

Boston is the 2022 Naismith player of the year who led South Carolina to a wire-to-wire season as the country’s top-ranked team. Bueckers is the 2021 player of the year whose return from injury is likely the reason UConn reached the title game. 

But when the game tipped off, the team that prevailed did so because it was more than its biggest star. Boston and Bueckers played well, but South Carolina prevailed because of the others. And none of the others were better than senior guard Destanni Henderson.

Henderson finished the game with a career-high 26 points on 3-of-6 shooting from deep, with four assists and three steals. She did it all for SC, from pushing the ball in transition, hitting shots from the outside, getting to the free throw line and everything in between.

Henderson’s outbreak performance is far from outside of her abilities — she was an All-SEC first teamer along with Boston. But she saved her best performance for the biggest stage in college hoops, and that was the X factor in this game.

Bueckers scored 14 for UConn, but no other player for the Huskies cracked double-digit points. As a team, they shot just 41 percent from the field and 25 percent from three. They were out-rebounded 49-24.

South Carolina played impeccable team defense, holding UConn to 49 points, including a season-low quarter total of eight points in the first quarter. But while Boston was doing her usual work on the boards with 16 rebounds to go with 11 points, someone needed to pick up the scoring slack and Henderson did that. 

She was the difference in the game.

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South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston gives heartfelt interview after winning NCAA Championship

What a difference a year makes.

Aliyah Boston is an NCAA champion. After falling just short in 2021, South Carolina won the program’s second title since 2017 as the Gamecocks defeated UConn, 64-49. Boston, the National Player of the Year, earned the title of Final Four Most Outstanding Player with an average of 17 points and 17 rebounds per game against Louisville and UConn.

In the title game, Boston scored 11 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, including five offensive boards as the Gamecocks dominated the Huskies on the glass.

After securing the trophy, Boston chatted with ESPN’s Holly Rowe on the court and gave a heartfelt explanation about everything she was feeling in the moment.

“Everyone had a picture of me crying at the end of the Final Four (in 2021), and they put that everywhere…,” Boston said as confetti fell. “But today we’re National Champions. Happy tears, Holly.”

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Louisvillle’s Hailey Van Lith channels her inner Kobe Bryant in an amazing postgame interview after advancing to the Final Four

We know what time it is for Hailey Van Lith

There was absolutely nothing that was going to get in the way of Hailey Van Lith and the Louisville Cardinals moving on to the Final Four on Monday night. Nothing.

That was made clear in the amazing interview Van Lith gave after the Cardinals beat Michigan to advance where she channeled her inner Kobe Bryant.

Van Lith was close with both Kobe and Gigi Bryant. She’d trained with them after Kobe invited her and her dad — who is also her trainer — out to LA to work with the Mamba team. They’d grown closer through their time together before Kobe and Gigi tragically passed away.

In her postgame interview, Van Lith was asked about what Kobe would say to her at that moment. Her response was absolutely incredible.

“He would say go f***ing win this s**t, Hailey. That’s what he would say. We’re not done. That’s what he would say right there.”   

Definitely sounds like a thing Kobe would say, honestly. I’m not sure how much time they actually spent together but it’s very, very clear she knew Bryant and his family well.

What a cool moment. We know what type of time Van Lith is on for the Final Four. Everyone else better be ready.

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