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Stanford is headed to the NCAA women's national championship game after defeating South Carolina 66-65 in a game that features a wild, back-and-forth finish finish was back-and-forth. They will face the winner of the UConn-Arizona game.
South Carolina dominated at the beginning of the game, but Stanford was able to tie it up in the first quarter, going on a solid late offensive run. Stanford had a six point lead at halftime, but the game remained close and well within reach for both teams until the very end.
Stanford led by two with just one minute left in the game with possession, but South Carolina's defense came up huge and got the ball back. Destanni Henderson hit a three with less than 40 seconds to go to put South Carolina up 65-64. That was their first lead since 15-13 in the first quarter.
Haley Jones gave Stanford the lead back with 32 second to go. Stanford's Ashten Prechtel the came up with a clutch steal and drew a foul leading to Stanford inbounding the ball. After the Gamecocks came away with a steal after that inbound pass, with less than five seconds on the clock, Brea Beal and Aliya Boston both had the chance to win it at the end but with neither shot going in as time expired, Stanford punched their ticket to the championship game.
Stanford's Jones ended the game with 24 points, two assists and four rebounds. Lexie Hull had 18 points, four assists and 13 rebounds.
Relive the thrilling first Final Four matchup of 2021 and Stanford's wild in in San Antonio in the CBS Sports live blog below.
