Hartford — This time, the game wasn’t played for the national championship, instead marked by a regular-season Sunday afternoon.

But that doesn’t mean top-ranked South Carolina and No. 5 UConn didn’t deliver a few heart palpitations for both women’s basketball fan bases before a sellout crowd of 15,564 at the XL Center, coming down to a one-possession game until there were 9.9 seconds remaining in what was a rematch of the 2022 NCAA title game.

“It was a great atmosphere. It almost felt like we were back in the tournament last year,” South Carolina senior Aliyah Boston said. “I just felt like there was so many people.”

In a contentious matchup where both teams held double-digit leads and made dizzying comebacks, South Carolina finished on top with an 81-77 victory.

Boston, the reigning national player of the year, finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds, 14 points in the fourth quarter, to lead the unbeaten Gamecocks (23-0). Boston had a string of 12 straight points for South Carolina to give it a 12-point lead at 74-62 with 2 minutes, 13 seconds remaining.

UConn (21-3) then scored an improbable 15 points in the final 1:55 to put the heat on South Carolina, the defending national champion.

Aubrey Griffin’s three-point play for the Huskies with 10.8 seconds remaining pulled UConn within 80-77 before South Carolina’s Raven Johnson iced the win by making one of two free throws with 9.9 to play.

The Gamecocks defeated UConn in last year’s title game before 18,304 fans at the Target Center in Minneapolis, 64-49. In that one, the Gamecocks got 26 points from Destanni Henderson, spoiling UConn’s previous record of 11-0 in NCAA championship games.

On Sunday, UConn led 25-14 after the first quarter, getting a rainbow of a 3-pointer from Lou Lopez Senechal to beat the buzzer. Nika Muhl had nine points in the first quarter, including a 3-pointer that bounced its way in.

But South Carolina outscored UConn 20-9 in the second quarter to tie the score at 34, with the Gamecocks getting 11 points in the quarter from 6-foot-7 Kamilla Cardoso. Cardoso finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, nine offensive rebounds, helping South Carolina to a healthy total of 25 offensive boards.

Aaliyah Edwards led UConn with 25 points. Lopez Senechal had 19 points, Griffin 17 and Muhl 11.

South Carolina was 26-for-36 from the free throw line and UConn 19-for-25. Both teams received technical fouls in the final 3:57, shifting the momentum on both occasions.

“Feeling, I would say, just unsatisfied,” UConn’s Edwards said. “Coming off last year into this game, we had different preparation. I think I’m proud of everyone that we punched first and that we came out aggressive and strong and a lot of energy. I think we went on a great run that first quarter, but just (being able to maintain) that for the whole game.”

The Huskies continued to play with an eight-person roster, with leading scorer Azzi Fudd (right knee) and fellow sophomore Caroline Ducharme (concussion) still out with injuries.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma said the team’s second-quarter lull, not the first time the Huskies have had a second-quarter letdown, came in part due to fatigue. Four UConn starters played 37 minutes or more.

Also, though, he felt the Huskies’ offense became stagnant in the second quarter.

“Some of it is, for some inexplicable reason, we just stop moving,” Auriemma said. “So I don’t know what causes that right now. It happened a lot today. We just stop moving.”

Auriemma called his technical foul, which came with 3:57 to play and the Huskies trailing by six with the ball, “a dumb mistake by me.”

Lopez Senechal said the coach later apologized to the team for the technical, which led to two South Carolina free throws and the ensuing Gamecocks’ possession on which they scored, making it a 69-59 cushion.

Down 74-62 after Boston’s 12-point outburst, UConn scored six straight points, getting a jump shot by Senechal to start things. South Carolina’s Cardoso picked up her fifth foul, plus a technical at the 1:20 mark.

Edwards made one foul shot and Lopez Senechal hit one shot stemming from the technical. Dorka Juhasz scored for UConn to make it 74-68, meanwhile Edwards and Griffin went to work inside, each getting to the basket on more than one occasion in the final minute.

Auriemma said the Huskies simply didn’t shoot the ball well enough from 3-point range, or even get the opportunities to shoot from 3 due to South Carolina’s pressure on the perimeter. UConn was 2-for-6 from beyond the arc.

“We can’t match them two for two,” Auriemma said. “They’re going to get a bunch of twos: offensive rebound, two, offensive rebound, two, foul, three. We’ve got to make up for it at the other end: 3, 3, 3. We didn’t do that, so eventually that caught up to us.”

Still, both coaches said the midseason matchup only helps the two top-five teams going forward.

“If you don’t put yourself in that situation to play these guys, you’re always pretending like you’re ready and you’re not really ready,” Auriemma said.

v.fulkerson@theday.com