Jon Samuelson, father to Katie Lou of UConn and Karlie of Stanford, traveled more than 2,000 miles in three days to watch his daughters play their way into the Final Four (0:26)

DALLAS -- There are no plans thus far for a communications blackout between Karlie and Katie Lou Samuelson.

At Wednesday night's Final Four kickoff event at Eddie Deen's Ranch in Dallas, the Samuelson sisters, playing in opposite sides of the bracket for a chance to meet in Sunday's national championship game at American Airlines Arena, did a little line-dancing and hung out together for the first time since they were both briefly home for Christmas.

The last time Karlie was at a Final Four as a player for Stanford, she was also with her sister. Only then, as a freshman role player off the bench, she was with older sister Bonnie and they were wearing the same jersey. This is unmistakably different.

Karlie, a senior, and Katie Lou, a sophomore, are integral parts of their teams' successes. Stanford needs to beat South Carolina and Connecticut must knock off Mississippi State to set up the first sibling-on-sibling matchup in NCAA title game history.

"We are not working for the same thing, but we are both excited to be here," Karlie said.

Katie Lou emerged from the trainer's room and headed into the Connecticut locker room during Thursday's open media session and was immediately surrounded five-deep by reporters with notebooks and cameras who wanted to know what it would be like to compete in a Final Four with her sister on another team.

"It's exciting," Katie Lou said. "People think our family is divided, but we still each have games against somebody else and I think everyone is just excited to see us play on the same day in the same place."

Katie Lou said she watched Stanford's Elite Eight win over Notre Dame on her phone on the way to practice and the team's media session before the regional final. By the time she got back to the locker room it was the middle of the fourth quarter and things were getting tight. A group of Connecticut players huddled around the laptop computer screen.

Prior to meeting up in Dallas during the Final Four, Karlie and Katie Lou Samuelson hadn't seen each other in person since Christmas. @ssladephoto/Twitter

"It was horrible," Katie Lou said. "I actually thought I was going to throw up and my legs were wobbly. Even after it was over and we went out to practice, my legs still felt weak. But it was so much fun watching her celebrate because I know it meant the world to her."

Katie Lou couldn't congratulate her sister for a couple of hours, until practice was over.

"And then it was such a long wait because we didn't play until the next night to see if we were going to be there together," Katie Lou said.

Since arriving in Dallas, the sisters have kept in close touch, comparing schedules and trying to steal away a little time together between team commitments.

The Samuelson family will sit in the Stanford section to watch the first semifinal, then move to the UConn section for the second game.

Both Karlie and Katie Lou have heard that family members are working on getting "Stan-Conn" shirts made for Sunday's championship game.

And the group texts between the sisters continue. For now.

"We're talking," Karlie said. "Obviously, if we both win, we're probably going to focus just on the game. I haven't thought about that too much. I think we are both just really focusing on each other's games on Friday."