Aliyah Boston leads No. 1 South Carolina into women’s final after win over Louisville

MINNEAPOLIS — The team that has been No. 1 in women’s basketball since this season began, South Carolina, will play for the NCAA championship Sunday.

The Gamecocks, the No. 1 overall seed, beat another No. 1, Louisville, 72-59 at Target Center in the women’s Final Four semifinal Friday.

South Carolina (34-2) will be in the NCAA final for the second time in program history. The Gamecocks won the 2017 national championship game. South Carolina lost in the SEC final last month on a late 3-pointer by Kentucky, but now will compete for the title that means the most.

“I think we’ve had instances late in the season where we didn’t take care of business in the fourth quarter,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “So I know it’s in the back of our players’ minds. It was in the back of my mind. And we were up I think nine going into the fourth quarter, and I’m just like, ‘OK, here we go.’

“I think just with anything, life in general, it’s going to throw tests at you. You’re going to have to pass the tests or you’re going to have to retake them. I thought we’ve been put in positions where we didn’t pass the test — against Kentucky — and they made us pay for it. And we had other instances during the tournament where we faced it, and we took it up to another level.”

Turning it up another notch is exactly what the Gamecocks did Friday.

South Carolina junior post player Aliyah Boston saw her double-double streak end at 27 in the Gamecocks’ Elite Eight win over Creighton. But she got right back into the double-double business Friday, finishing with 23 points and 18 rebounds. She also had four assists and looked every bit like someone who has won every national player of the year award thus far.

“With the awards, I’m really blessed,” Boston said. “But my main…