On April 1 and 3, Minneapolis hosted the semifinals and final game of the 2022 women’s NCAA March Madness tournament. Basketball fans from across the country packed Target Center, with four stellar teams — the Louisville Cardinals, South Carolina Gamecocks, Stanford Cardinal, and University of Connecticut Huskies — taking the court.
Oregon basketball player and TikTok star Sedona Prince took to the Minneapolis streets to provide game day coverage for Togethxr, a media company founded by Sue Bird, Alex Morgan, Simone Manuel, and Chloe Kim. Against the backdrop of iconic Minneapolis landmarks like First Avenue, Prince quizzed fans on their favorite teams, challenged game-goers to dunking contests, and even shared a touching moment with a father whose daughter had been inspired to come out as gay after watching Prince’s TikTok content.
On the evening of April 1, the first match of the weekend saw South Carolina take down Louisville, leading the Gamecocks into their second ever March Madness final. Minnesotans were perhaps more excited for the second match of the evening, however, as hometown hero Paige Bueckers took the court. Bueckers, who grew up in St. Louis Park, Minn. and played basketball for Hopkins High School, led the Huskies in minutes and points to defeat defending champions Stanford and advance to the final.
The stage was then set for the final — Huskies versus Gamecocks. It was sure to be a tough match-up, as neither team had ever lost in a March Madness final. The Hus-
kies, consistently regarded as the most successful team in women’s college basketball, had won all 11 NCAA finals that they had appeared in, the most of any team. The Gamecocks on the other had only been to one championship game before, in 2017, which they won.
The game tipped off to a sold out arena, with more than 18,000 people in attendance. Despite the hometown support for Bueckers and the UConn Huskies, the South Carolina Gamecocks came out on top with a confident 64-49 win over the Huskies, nabbing their second national championship.
