South Carolina continues near-flawless run to national championship with big Final Four win over Louisville

• The South Carolina Gamecocks bested the Louisville Cardinals 72-59 in their Final Four matchup.
• The top team in the country led throughout the second half to head to the national championship game.

MINNEAPOLIS — The South Carolina Gamecocks are just one win away from a national championship.

Dawn Staley's wire-to-wire No. 1 team in the country took down the Louisville Cardinals 72-59 in the first of two Final Four matchups at Minneapolis' Target Center Friday evening.

South Carolina superstar Aliyah Boston — who earned consensus National Player of the Year honors — recorded a game-high 23 points and 18 rebounds to notch her 29th double-double on the season and lead her Gamecocks on to the title game.

Though Louisville managed to claim a brief lead midway through the second quarter, the Gamecocks used an early second-half surge to pull away from the Cardinals. Junior guard Zia Cooke stretched South Carolina's six-point halftime lead to double-digits all on her own to start the third quarter, scoring five unanswered points on a quick three-pointer and a steal-turned-layup on the next trip down the floor.

The Gamecocks' lead never dipped below six points after Cooke's early-half heroics. Though the Cardinals managed to string together an 8-1 run late in the third quarter, Boston stymied their momentum with a huge lay-in through contact with four seconds left in the period.

She sank the free throw to complete the three-point play and put South Carolina up by nine at the end of the quarter.

Despite serious offensive struggles to start the contest — including a handful of layup attempts that missed the rim entirely — the Cardinals managed to climb back from their early nine-point deficit, thanks to a stellar stretch from forward Emily Engstler. The New York native was held scoreless through the first five minutes of the contest but pulled in 10 points and seven rebounds in the first half to keep Louisville close and lead all scorers.

The senior transfer led the Cardinals with 18 points and nine rebounds when the final buzzer sounded — even though she fouled out with 4:56 remaining in the contest.

Hailey Van Lith — the star guard who has been on an offensive tear for Louisville throughout the team's run to the Final Four — went 1-of-4 from the floor through the first two quarters and finished the game with six points in 40 minutes on the floor.

The Gamecocks will move on to face the winner of Friday night's second national semifinal between the No. 1 Stanford Cardinal and No. 2 UConn Huskies. South Carolina will pursue the program's second-ever national title Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.