COLUMBUS, Ohio -- UConn was in trouble. Big trouble.
In a regular-season meeting in Hartford, Connecticut, on Dec. 3, the Huskies trailed Notre Dame by 11 points with 10 minutes to play. Gabby Williams was out of the game with a migraine. Katie Lou Samuelson reinjured her foot in the fourth quarter and wasn't a factor.
Depleted and trailing at home, UConn turned to Azurá Stevens. The Duke transfer, playing in just her seventh game in a Huskies' uniform, delivered 10 of her 17 points in the final quarter, propelling UConn to an 80-71 win, its closest call this season.
The Huskies and Fighting Irish will square off again in the Final Four on Friday (ESPN2, 9 p.m. ET). The national semifinal will mark the fourth time the former Big East foes will meet in the Final Four since 2011. Notre Dame won in the semifinals in 2011 and 2012. UConn beat the Irish for the championship in both 2014 and 2015.
Stevens' first season in Storrs, Connecticut, was already off to a good start before her breakout against Notre Dame. In UConn's two games before facing the Fighting Irish, Stevens tallied 25 points against Michigan State and 17 points and 14 rebounds against Nevada. But both of those were blowout wins. This was Notre Dame, which was the No. 3 team in the nation at the time.
But Stevens didn't let the Huskies lose.
"That fourth quarter was incredible, and that was one of my favorite times of the whole season because it showed the fight we have in us," Stevens said Thursday. "The rest of the team found me in good spots and I was able to get the job done. That's the great thing about this team. Some teams have a couple players who do it every night. We have a lot of consistent players, and on any given night one of us can just take over."
At Duke, Stevens was one of the Blue Devils who could take over games in big moments. As a sophomore in Durham, she led the Blue Devils in scoring (18.9 points per game), rebounding (9.6 per game), field goal percentage (53.5 percent) and blocks (2.1 per game). At UConn, Stevens ranks third in rebounds and second in scoring, and she has come off the bench in all but eight games.
It's a new role that she knew was coming when she transferred but one she was happy to accept. Her 14.6 PPG and 7.4 RPG aren't as robust, but Stevens is playing deeper into the season than she ever has because of something she learned almost immediately upon arriving in Storrs.
"You can push past your mind more than you think you can. You are tougher than you think," Stevens said of playing at UConn. "It's just pushing yourself past that barrier. I realized it in practice last year when I was sitting out. The coaches will push you because that's part of their job, but mostly, you have to find that out for yourself here."
Even after two full seasons -- last year spent just practicing while she was redshirting, and the other on the court this season -- Stevens remains a newbie at the Final Four. Duke reached the Sweet 16 in 2015, her freshman season, but didn't make the NCAA tournament field in 2016. So Stevens is the only member of the Huskies' thin but ultra-talented six-player rotation to be experiencing the sport's biggest weekend for the first time.
Of course, with the Huskies appearing in their NCAA-record 11th straight and 19th overall Final Four, Stevens has plenty of mentors.
"The biggest thing for Azurá is dealing with all the noise. There are long days with the media and a lot of people everywhere, lots of colors, lots of videos," said senior Kia Nurse, who has averaged 7.6 points in five career games over four Final Four trips. "There is a time to enjoy all of this because you don't get to do it every day, but it is a tough weekend. It's all in how you manage everything and that's what I tried to prepare her for."
Still, Stevens reached back to her Duke roots and an article by former Blue Devils' All-American J.J. Reddick to keep herself balanced in the most hectic time of the season.
"He was talking about having to have a routine," Stevens said of the current Philadelphia 76er. "Throughout your career you are going to have a bunch of things that pull your attention, but as long as you keep your routine, you can keep your focus. One thing I do is pray before a game to get myself calm and in the mindset I need to be in."
December's win over Notre Dame was the biggest confidence booster of the season for Stevens. She got loose in the lane for layups three different times; the first jump-started the decisive 15-3 run, and the last capped it. She even drove through the Irish defense from the top of the key for another score, looking like the player UConn coach Geno Auriemma jokingly referred to at the Albany Regional as his "6-6 2-guard."
"The way she finishes, the way she is on defense is different from even this beginning of this season," junior forward Napheesa Collier said. "It has made us better."
Nurse is ready for more, and thinks she knows exactly how Stevens can help the Huskies win a 12th national championship.
"The 3-point shot might be there this weekend," Nurse said of Stevens, who has made just 9 of 51 attempts from behind the arc this season. "I can feel it. Her confidence is growing, so we are good."