March Madness 2025: Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, Sarah Strong led Uconn to the 12th title with a dominant victory over South Carolina

Paige Bueckers ends his university career at the top.

Bueckers and Uconn reached another dominant victory 82-59 against South Carolina in Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, Sunday afternoon to win the national championship. He marks the 12th title of the program in the history of the team, and the first since 2016. They are now the first division I team with a dozen championships, which are all noted from head coach Geno Auriemma.

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The victory crowned what was a truly dominant race for the Huskies throughout the NCAA female tournament this spring. Although Bueckers recorded several 30 -point games, it was Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong who was several times to finish a trio that no one on the field could stop.

They won all the two -digit games and beat three heads of standard n ° 1 – including a rout of 34 points above the serial UCLA in the Final Four – to win their title. Bueckers, which should be the overall choice n ° 1 of the WNBA draft next month, now processes pro with a championship. She had led the Huskies with four appearances in the Final Four, but they fell into South Carolina during the national championship match in 2022.

The South Carolina came out of the hot door, but completely closed at the end of the first quarter. After operating the match by making five of their first shots, the Gamecocks missed seven of their following eight to finish the quarter. They did not score at all after Joyce Edwards struck a franc launch at the brand at 3:59 either. This allowed Uconn to jump from five to the first break.

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Although Uconn entered the locker room with a single 3-point pointer, which Ashlynn Shade struck just before the buzzer, the Huskies have always doubled their advance after the second quarter, holding an advantage of 36-26 at the break. They held the South Carolina at only 12 points in the second quarter and limited them to a single basket in the last five minutes of the period. Strong almost had a double-double in the first 20 minutes with eight points and 11 rebounds too. It was the highest rebound total in a single half of a national championship match since Tina Charles in 2009.

Uconn then took off in the third quarter, thanks in part to a section of 11 points from Fudd. She struck a huge 3 points at the end of the period, which Sarah Strong quickly followed with one of her own, to help them push them to a 20-point lead after the period, at 62-42. They also finished the quarter on a 12-3 race, which gave them their greatest advance of the match at that time.

The fourth quarter was almost the same. The Huskies won the 23-point victory without any problem after opening the last period on a sequence of 18-6.

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Bueckers, Fudd and Strong combined for 65 points in total in victory, which scored another massive outing for the group. Bueckers finished with 17 points, which moved his past Maya Moore for the third career points in the NCAA tournament. Fudd had 24 points and was appointed the most remarkable player in the Final Four.

Strong finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Strong has set a NCAA tournament record for points of a first-year student in a single tournament, and it is the third recruit in history to lower 20 points in a match for the title in the semi-final and national.

Edwards and Tessa Johnson each dropped 10 points from the bench to lead the South Carolina in the defeat, although they are the only two gamecocks to reach the double figures. Chloe Kitts finished with nine points and six rebounds, and Sania Feagin finished with eight points. They pulled 21 out of 61 on the field as a team and only 4 out of 16 of the arc.

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While the South Carolina has failed to retreat the championship last year, the remarkable race for Gamecocks is still very intact. They attended the five consecutive fours, three of the last four national championship games and won two national titles. But, with the way Bueckers and the Huskies played at the end of the season, there was simply no stop.

Bueckers came out in the lead.