South Carolina vs Stanford: 2021 Women’s Final Four game preview, TV schedule

A pair of No. 1 seeds in Stanford and South Carolina will go to battle with a spot in the national title game on the line.

TV schedule: Friday, April, 2, 6:00 pm ET. ESPN

Arena: The Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas

While the UConn Huskies are viewed as a big favorite overall in the Women’s Final Four, there are a pair of quality contenders on the other side in Stanford and South Carolina, a pair of No. 1 seeds that took care of business in their respective regions.

South Carolina (26-4), was dominant in the Hemisfair Region. The Women Gamecocks easily handled Mercer and Oregon State in the first weekend, before getting tested a bit in the Sweet 16 against Georgia Tech. They certainly weren’t tested in the Elite 8 against Texas, holding a strong lead the entire time entering the fourth quarter.

Then head coach Dawn Staley and South Carolina made history. They outscored the Longhorns 10-0 in the entire quarter, holding their opponents to nothing in the last 10 minutes of the game. The Gamecocks have a strong defense but even that is impressive. Zia Cooke, who leads the team in scoring on the season, had 16 points to lead all scorers.

Cooke (15.6 ppg) is part of a three-heading monster that leads the way for the Gamecocks. Her backcourt partner and point guard Destanni Henderson averages 12.0 ppg and leads the team with 5.1 apg and 41% three-point shooting. The star big of the team is Aliyah Boston, a 6’5 center that averages 13.8 ppg and 11.4 rpg, along with over two blocks a game. She’s arguably the best interior defender in Women’s NCAA Basketball, as Texas recently found out.

But she and the rest of the team will have a big task in stopping the No. 1 overall seed in the Women’s Tournament in the Stanford Cardinal (29-2). Their path to the Final Four came through the Alamo Region, beating Utah Valley, Oklahoma State, and Missouri State to get to the Elite 8.

The Cardinal faced some real trouble against the No. 2 seed, down by 12 points at the halftime break. However, Stanford’s offense proved to be too much for Louisville to handle all 40 minutes, outscoring them in the second half, 52-25 to get the 78-63 victory. Lexie Hull had 21 points and nine rebounds, while Ashten Prechtel came up huge off the bench with 16 points on a perfect 6/6 shooting. Haley Jones, who leads the team in rebounding on the season, contributed with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Compared to South Carolina, Stanford Women are a bit more balanced throughout its roster. Kiana Williams leads the team with 14.5 ppg, one of four players that average in double figures. Two more comes in at over seven points a game, while the rebounding and passing numbers are split throughout the rotation. This high level of depth allowed the Cardinal to get through the tough Pac-12, and makes them fully capable of knocking off the other remaining 1 seeds in the tournament.

There’s a real argument that can be made that South Carolina will have the two best players in this game (Cooke and Boston), while Stanford will have four of the next five best players. Considering that the head coaching battle between Dawn Staley (South Carolina) and Tara VanDerveer (Stanford) is an even matchup, it’ll come down to depth versus star power.

If the Cardinal can get Boston into foul trouble inside, they’ll have a real path to winning this game. Otherwise, I have South Carolina pulling ahead late to make it to the national title game.

Prediction: South Carolina 73, Stanford 68