Notre Dame star Jewell Loyd struggled with her shot for the second straight game. Lindsay Allen was there again to help the Fighting Irish advance.
Allen scored 23 points and top-seeded Notre Dame beat Baylor, 77-68, in the Oklahoma City regional final Sunday night to reach its fifth consecutive Final Four.
Allen, who scored a career-high 28 points in the regional semifinal win over Stanford on Friday, followed that by making 10 of 16 shots and adding seven assists. The sophomore point guard was selected the Most Outstanding Player in the regional.
‘‘Well, she’s like my twin, and really, she’s unstoppable,’’ Loyd said. ‘‘I think people have underestimated her, and she’s been awesome all year. It’s been awesome to see how talented she is.’’
Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said Loyd, a top candidate for national Player of the Year honors, still made her mark.
‘‘The truth is, Jewell Loyd makes all those players get those points, and we don’t have that player, so we’ve got to get it from a bunch of different places,’’ Mulkey said.
Michaela Mabrey scored 14 points and Loyd added 13 points for the Fighting Irish (35-2), who won their 21st straight game. Notre Dame will play South Carolina on Sunday.
‘‘We’re just excited to be in this moment,’’ Allen said. ‘‘When we’re looking back, we’re just excited to be making it to another Final Four.’’
Nina Davis had 26 points and 13 rebounds, Sune Agbuke had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Niya Johnson added 10 assists for second-seeded Baylor (33-4), which had hoped to avenge an 88-69 loss to Notre Dame in last year’s regional final.
Agbuke, Baylor’s 6-foot-4-inch center, picked up her fourth foul with just over nine minutes to play, and Notre Dame attacked the basket. Madison Cable’s runner with just under a minute to go put Notre Dame up, 74-68, and the Fighting Irish held on at the free throw line.
South Carolina 80, Florida State 74 — Tiffany Mitchell scored 7 of her 21 points in the final two minutes, and the Gamecocks (34-2) earned their first Final Four berth by beating the Seminoles (32-5) in the Greensboro (N.C.) Regional final.
‘‘I just remember last night watching the Kentucky men doing it, and thinking, ‘That could be us tomorrow afternoon,’ ’’ Mitchell said.
Alaina Coates finished with 14 points, A’ja Wilson added 10, and Asia Dozier hit four free throws in the final 20 seconds for top-seeded South Carolina.
‘‘It put South Carolina on the map,’’ South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. ‘‘The regular season that we had, the success that we’ve had in [the Southeastern] Conference, when you hurdle over being a regional champion and going to the Final Four, it puts your name in history.’’
Playing from behind for most of the day, they shot 61.2 percent while rallying to win their seventh straight and keep the best season in school history going.
There were five ties and seven lead changes in the final 10-plus minutes. The last came when Mitchell’s drive made it 69-67 with just under two minutes left.
The Gamecocks forced Brown to miss a jumper before Mitchell put them up by 5 with a 3-pointer with 1:21 left.
‘‘Tiffany Mitchell is the person we want the ball in her hands when we need a basket,’’ Staley said.
Next stop: Tampa, to face Notre Dame on Sunday.