BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Tampa time, just barely.

South Carolina women’s basketball trailed in the fourth quarter for the second game in a row and second half for the third in a row, but once again found just enough championship mettle to preserve its season.

The Gamecocks outscored Duke 16-8 in the fourth quarter to pull out a 54-50 win, sending the program to its fifth consecutive Final Four and seventh of the Dawn Staley era.

For all the close shaves South Carolina (34-3) has had in the tournament, though, this was the tightest scare of all. Duke had the ball down just two points with the shot clock off, and star guard Ashlon Jackson had a 3-point ball in the air. One shot, to possibly eliminate the Gamecocks.

Air ball, Bree Hall grabbed the rebound, and South Carolina dodged the bullet. Two seconds later Chloe Kitts drew a foul and got to the free throw line.

She sank the two biggest free throws of her career, extended the advantage to two possessions and after one more stop, South Carolina had its ticket to Tampa.

In the early going, it looked like smooth sailing. South Carolina’s previous cold offense hit three 3-pointers early, the defense was locked in and even the post players started to find some space after a tough two games seeing double-teams. When Joyce Edwards scored on back-to-back possessions, the Gamecocks led 25-14 just under four minutes into the second quarter.

Then the offense went cold. Not just cold, but as cold as it has all season. Turnovers, bad shot selection, missed bunnies and even missed free throws all contributed to a nightmare remainder of the game for the Gamecock offense, particularly through the middle quarters. South Carolina scored just one more point over the final six minutes of the second quarter, then only mustered a dozen in the entire third quarter.

A Duke team known for its ability to muck games up and force teams to play a low-scoring slugfest did exactly that, constantly pressuring the ball, rotating quickly and preventing the South Carolina offense from generating anything easy.

Duke’s Toby Fournier scored 18 points and Ashlon Jackson added 13, and the Duke offense had just enough to outpace South Carolina for most of the game.

But the Gamecocks opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run, played even basketball fo the rest of the fourt quarter and will head back to college basketball's biggest stage.

Just barely.

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