On Monday night in San Antonio, the UConn women's basketball team, which has won 11 national championships since 1995, punched a ticket to its 13th consecutive Final Four. A staggering number for the top-seeded Huskies, but simply an unlucky one for their opponent in No. 2 seed Baylor, since the game happened to end in controversial fashion.
Trailing 68-67 with four seconds remaining, Bears guard DiJonai Carrington appeared to be fouled by two UConn forwards, Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Aaliyah Edwards, while attempting a baseline jumper from the left block. With hands in Carrington's face, no shooting foul was called, and as she fell to the floor, UConn managed to recover the airball, shoot one more free throw, and escape with the thrilling win.
The questionable non-call quickly sparked debate across social media. On Twitter, Lakers star LeBron James tweeted out, "Cmon, man!!! That was a foul!!" Several WNBA stars and college basketball analysts also criticized the officials for swallowing the whistle on Carrington's game-winning shot attempt.
Doug Feinberg, who covers women's basketball for the Associated Press, joined After Hours with Amy Lawrence on Tuesday morning to break down the game's dramatic finish.
"Both sides said if [Bears senior guard] DiDi Richards hadn't gotten hurt, there probably would've been a different outcome to the game," Feinberg said. "She was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, potentially the national defensive player of the year. Baylor was playing great, they were up 10, and then she tweaked her hamstring, went out, and UConn made its 19-0 run. So, that's a difference maker right there.
"Listen, all the stuff that's discussed with that last call that was not made -- and I'll be honest, our seats were in the upper deck, so I couldn't tell you live whether it was a foul or not -- it was a very physical game. I've seen a lot of games in this tournament in the last two weeks, and they've been letting a lot of things go, the officials have, and I thought tonight there were a lot of calls they could've made that would've sent a lot of people to the foul line throughout the course of the game, but they were just letting them play and be physical. And that was just another example at the end of the game... It's part of basketball."
UConn pulled off the comeback win with a ton of help from freshman sensation Paige Bueckers, who scored a team-high 28 points.
"I love her mid-range game. She hits pullup jumpers from 15 feet that you don't see many players in college or pro basketball do anymore still," Feinberg said. "That's pretty impressive. And she doesn't get rattled. She scored 28 tonight, and she's a freshman. There's a lot of pressure on her, but you wouldn't know it. I mean, she just does her thing. When she shoots shots, you think if it doesn't go in, it's a surprise. She doesn't move the net most of the time when she shoots the ball."
UConn is scheduled to face No.3 seed Arizona in the national semifinals on Friday.
The entire conversation between Feinberg and Lawrence can be accessed in the audio player below.
You can follow After Hours With Amy Lawrence on Twitter @ALawRadio and @AfterHoursCBS, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.