PORTLAND, Ore. — After being a spectator a year ago, Paige Bueckers is back at the Final Four after scoring 28 points and lifting UConn to an 80-73 victory over Southern California in the women’s NCAA tournament on Monday evening.
Bueckers beat fabulous USC freshman All-American JuJu Watkins, sparking a decisive run in the final five minutes that sent third-seeded UConn (33-5) to its 23rd semi-final. national final, the most of any school.
Leading 65-64, the Huskies scored 11 straight points, including seven from Bueckers and a three-point play from Aaliyah Edwards to finally put away the top-seeded Trojans (29-6).
Edwards finished with 24 points, and this trip to the Final Four will be one of the most improbable in coach Geno Auriemma’s 39-year tenure.
Plagued by injuries that left them with just eight healthy players — including the loss of two starters — the Huskies fought through the minutes, fouls and exhaustion to win their regional final a year after seeing a series of 14 consecutive Final Four appearances interrupted.
Bueckers was sidelined with a serious knee injury last year at the end of that streak. She was determined to get the Huskies back to this point and did so by hitting 11 of 23 shots and finishing with 10 rebounds and six assists.
UConn will face Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the national semifinals on Friday.
A day after the NCAA belatedly realized that the 3-point line at one end of the Moda Center court was 9 inches shorter than the other, the Trojans and Huskies played on a corrected court — albeit with the incorrect line is always visible – with the finale. Cleveland’s spot on the line.
And it was the Huskies who celebrated at the end, even if the ending was shaky. UConn missed six free throws in the final minute and let a 12-point lead shrink to five.
Watkins concluded his freshman year by scoring 29 points, but UConn made it difficult for him to get clear vision at the rim with regular double teams and constant switching of defenders.
Watkins took about 15 minutes to score the eight points needed to pass former San Diego State star Tina Hutchinson as the greatest freshman in NCAA history.
Watkins’ 3-pointer from the top of the key midway through the second quarter gave him the record.
New York Post
