UConn women's coach Geno Auriemma and his players celebrate their win Sunday over Notre Dame to reach the Final Four for the 25th time. (AP photo)

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — All-America forward Sarah Strong and her UConn teammates got quite a compliment from Geno Auriemma, their coach who donned a cowboy hat and did a little dance on the court after the undefeated Huskies made their 25th Final Four in the women’s NCAA Tournament.

The 12-time championship coach who has more wins than any men’s or women’s NCAA coach said he has never been more proud of a group that he has taken to the final weekend of March Madness.

“This group, they don’t have that kind of swagger, trash-talking kind of mentality,” Auriemma said after his 1,288th victory. “It’s not the kind of team that I’ve had in the past that has gone this far undefeated. It’s not. They don’t have that kind of mentality off the court, on the court. They’re just a bunch of really nice kids that play hard for each other.”

And they are headed to Phoenix after Strong scored 21 points, Blanca Quiñonez added 20 points off the bench and the defending national champion Huskies beat Notre Dame 70-52 on Sunday.

UConn will play its national semifinal game Friday against South Carolina or TCU, who play in the Sacramento Regional 4 final on Monday night. The Huskies beat the Gamecocks 82-59 in last year’s national championship game.

While this is a younger group for Auriemma after Paige Bueckers, the No. 1 WNBA draft pick, and Kaitlyn Chen were seniors on last year’s championship team, UConn (38-0) has won 54 games in a row and clinched the first spot for this year’s Final Four.

“Seeing him excited and kind of goofy is really good for us. … He’s usually all serious or like anxious, grumpy. Just seeing him let loose and be his true self was really good,” Strong said.

Hannah Hidalgo had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Fighting Irish (25-11), plus three more steals to increase her NCAA single-season record to 202 and single NCAA tourney mark to 29. But she also had five turnovers, the first time in her 10 NCAA tourney games with more turnovers than steals.

“They’re very, very physical. They try to take away every option that you have,” Irish coach Niele Ivey said. “They’re very disciplined. They play well together, and they just play hard.”

UCLA 70, DUKE 58

Lauren Betts and her fellow UCLA seniors wouldn’t allow their season to end short of the Final Four.

Betts had 23 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks to help UCLA rally from a rare eight-point halftime deficit and beat Duke 70-58 on Sunday, advancing to the national semifinals for the second straight season.

The top-seeded Bruins will play either Texas or Michigan in Phoenix on Friday, with unbeaten UConn on the other side of the Final Four bracket. UCLA is two wins away from the program’s first NCAA title.

“We just have the mentality of this being a business trip. I can’t emphasize that enough,” said UCLA’s Angela Dugalic.

Third-seeded Duke tested UCLA (35-1) like few teams had this season. The Bruins struggled to get going offensively or contain the Blue Devils (27-9), who reached their second straight Elite Eight thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Ashlon Jackson against LSU.

Taina Mair scored 21 points to lead Duke, which also lost in a regional final last year.

UCLA was down 45-41 midway through the third quarter before using a 10-2 run to take its first lead since scoring the first basket of the game. Kneepkens’ 3-pointer gave the Bruins a 47-45 advantage.

Defensively, UCLA stymied Duke, not allowing the Blue Devils a basket for the final 6:12 of the period. That drought didn’t end until Mair hit a 3-pointer 1:30 into the fourth quarter that got Duke within 56-50.