Albany, N.Y. — The final buzzer sounded and joy ensued, the kind of sheer elation so memorable that UConn coach Geno Auriemma would later say he's only been overcome that way a handful of times in his legendary career.

Auriemma took the microphone from the public address announcer to speak to the crowd of 9,204 at the Times Union Center. He called on his own members of the media at the UConn press conference instead of waiting for the moderator. He sat next to players Katie Lou Samuelson, Christyn Williams and Megan Walker on the podium, all of them beaming.

Maybe the second-seeded UConn women's basketball team, headed to its record-setting 12th straight Final Four after an 80-73 victory Sunday over No. 1 Louisville, was the favorite in this game after all.

"It's not normal and it's something that's hard to describe," said Auriemma, whose team trailed only briefly in the first quarter, avenging a 78-69 loss earlier this season at Louisville. "Because if you're writing a book and making it up, people would say that doesn't happen in real life and it has happened in real life.

"My mind just doesn't get it, how this could happen this many years in a row with a different cast of characters that change so often."

UConn's Samuelson, suffering from a back injury that sidelined her for 19 days earlier this month and deemed not as mobile as usual by Auriemma just the day before, responded with a flurry of mobility Sunday as she finished with 29 points, hitting seven of UConn's 14 3-point field goals.

Williams, a freshman, had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Huskies (35-2), who will next face the winner of Monday's Chicago Regional final between No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Stanford on Friday in Tampa, Fla.

Walker had 13 points, 12 in the first half as she began the game by hitting her first four 3-point attempts, and 12 rebounds. Napheesa Collier, named the regional's Most Outstanding Player, had 12 points, 13 rebounds and six assists and Crystal Dangerfield had 10 points.

Samuelson and Dangerfield joined Collier on the All-Tournament team, as did Louisville's Sam Fuehring and Asia Durr.

UConn was the first team to advance to the Final Four, joined shortly thereafter by No. 2 Oregon, which upended No. 1 Mississippi State 88-84 in the Portland Regional final.

UConn has survived-and-advanced its way to the Final Four every season since 2008. The Huskies have won six of their 11 national titles during that time, with championships coming in 2009-10 and 2013-16.

"I think this team has done a lot behind closed doors to get to this point," Samuelson said of UConn's jubilation following the game. "We've been through so many ups and downs trying to figure out how to work with certain people.

"This team has fought our way to get to this point. For us to get to this point to win and win the way we have and the way we're playing right now as a team, we're so happy with where we are and it's just special. This team is special. I'm glad that I get this chance to go to the Final Four one last time."

UConn took a 7-0 lead following Samuelson's first 3-pointer and held a 12-7 edge before Louisville went on a 9-0 run, punctuated by a 3 from Kylee Shook, which gave the Cardinals the 16-12 advantage.

UConn's Walker came back with a 3 of her own from the top of the circle, however, and that was followed by a 3 by Dangerfield which pushed the Huskies back in front. They led 22-16 after a quarter and 41-34 at halftime, at which point they had nine 3-pointers to their credit.

Louisville (32-4) carved the deficit to 57-53 after three quarters. Dangerfield started the fourth with a driving layup and UConn would go on to lead by 11, 74-63, on a pair of free throws by Samuelson with 1:47 to play. But that's when the Cardinals made things interesting with a 10-1 run.

An easy layup by Arica Carter pulled Louisville to within 75-73 and Auriemma used a 30-second timeout with 26.6 seconds remaining.

Samuelson hit a pair of free throws to make it 77-73, but Durr, the Cardinals' leading scorer, had an opportunity to shoot two from the free throw line herself with 20.3 seconds to play with a chance to get back within two.

Durr missed both and Collier and Walker were able to finish things out from the foul line for UConn.

"We didn't quit, refused to quit, continued to compete and that's what you ask of them," said Louisville coach Jeff Walz, who inferred Saturday that his team was the underdog, despite being the No. 1 seed, due to all UConn's history.

"Yeah, we fought back hard," said Durr, who finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the final game of her decorated career. "We fought hard and that's what shows ... that's what makes us us. We don't stop fighting. It really doesn't matter how much we're down by."

v.fulkerson@theday.com