By ALANIS THAMES AP Sports Writer
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Rori Harmon put her hands on her knees and bowed her head as the clock wound down. The Texas senior guard doesn’t like crying, but she gave herself a moment to reflect on the past 10 months.
This time last year, Harmon was sidelined by a knee injury. She could only watch as the Longhorns were eliminated in the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA Tournament.
It came full circle Monday night. Madison Booker scored 18 points, Harmon added 13 and No. 1 seed Texas used its stifling defense to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2003, beating well-traveled point guard Hailey Van Lith and second-seeded TCU 58-47.
“Just to see us get to the Final Four after recovering and coming back from my ACL injury in 10 months,” Harmon said, “I thought it was an amazing thing, and I was just really proud of myself in that moment.”
The Longhorns (35-3) will face defending champion South Carolina on Friday night in Tampa, Florida, for a spot in the national title game.
Texas won a regional final for the first time in four tries under coach Vic Schaefer, who previously made two Final Four trips with Mississippi State. The Longhorns’ 35 wins are one more than its only national title-winning squad had in 1986 under Jody Conradt, who was in the stands Monday night and led Texas to its three previous Final Fours.
Van Lith scored 17 points for TCU (34-4) in her collegiate finale, but Texas neutralized the Horned Frogs’ star center, Sedona Prince, who had four points and nine rebounds before fouling out with 6:32 left.
Harmon guarded Van Lith most of the night.
“That to me is vintage Rori,” Schaefer said. “She embraces the defensive challenge. She loves it. She eats it for breakfast.”
TCU had never made it past the second round of March Madness, but Van Lith helped the Horned Frogs make program history while taking her third school to the Elite Eight.
Booker, Texas’ offensive dynamo, scored 14 points in the second half. Harmon had 11 in the first half.
Nothing came easy for the Horned Frogs’ high-scoring trio of Van Lith, Prince and Madison Conner. Van Lith shot 3 of 15 from the field but made 10 of 11 free throws. The 6-foot-7 Prince attempted only four shots, and Conner scored nine points.
Prince, whose career started with Texas in 2018, said the Longhorns’ post players did a good job scouting her. But she also felt that Texas was in her head. She never played for the Longhorns, leaving the program for Oregon in 2019 after breaking her leg playing for USA Basketball.
“I thought that we had to win to prove it to them that they couldn’t beat me,” Prince said. “But being part of this program, being here and succeeding … it doesn’t matter.”
The Longhorns forced 21 turnovers and had nine steals and six blocks, but they didn’t pull away until center Kyla Oldacre intercepted Van Lith’s pass and went coast-to-coast early in the fourth quarter.
The 6-foot-6 Oldacre was fouled by Prince and made the free throw, energizing the Longhorns and the announced crowd of 12,175 that made the trip to Alabama. The three-point play put Texas ahead by double digits for the first time.
After falling behind by 14, TCU pulled within six with 2:42 remaining on four straight points from forward Deasia Merrill. Consecutive jumpers from Booker and Harmon put the Longhorns back up by 10, and the Horned Frogs never got any closer.
Harmon had two steals in the first seven minutes as the Longhorns held the Horned Frogs to just nine points in the opening quarter. The Longhorns went up by nine before TCU closed the second quarter on a 7-0 run that made it 23-21 at the half.
Oldacre scored nine points, all in the second half, to help Texas outscore TCU 35-26 after the break.
This was the 57th meeting of the former Big 12 foes and first in the NCAA Tournament. Texas moved to the Southeastern Conference this season, went 15-1 against the SEC in the regular season, captured the regular-season title and had the SEC player of the year in Booker.
Sticking to the formula
The Longhorns stuck with what’s worked for them all season. They don’t attempt many 3-pointers, and they wear teams out with the frontcourt rotation of Oldacre and 6-4 Taylor Jones.
Jones had seven points and six rebounds for Texas, which outscored TCU 24-8 in the paint.
Top seed dominance
Texas’ win put three No. 1 seeds in the Final Four, along with South Carolina and top overall seed UCLA. The Gamecocks edged second-seeded Duke on Sunday to move two wins away from repeating as champs. The Bruins dispatched Flaujae Johnson and No. 3 seed LSU behind 17 points from standout center Lauren Betts.
The top seeds will be joined by Paige Bueckers and No. 2 seed UConn, who beat No. 1 seed Southern California in Monday night’s other semifinal.
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