Arizona, the disruptive and defensive-minded newcomer to the Final Four, ousted Connecticut, the most decorated program in women’s college basketball, from the N.C.A.A. tournament on Friday.
The upset, 69-59, by the third-seeded Wildcats vaulted them into Sunday evening’s championship game against Stanford, the tournament’s top seed over all.
Aari McDonald, the senior guard whose approaches to the basket at the Alamodome in San Antonio stirred Arizona fans to their feet on one possession after the next, had 26 points and made four of nine 3-point tries.
But it was the Wildcats’ defense that was so sterling, holding the No.