UConn women slip past Baylor, reach Final Four
Paige Bueckers scored 28 points and top seed UConn used a huge run spanning the final two quarters to beat No. 2 Baylor 69-67 on Monday night and reach a 13th consecutive Final Four in the women’s NCAA Tournament in the River Walk Region in San Antonio, Texas.
“Each year that we do it, I still can’t believe it,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said.
UConn has made the national semifinals every season since 2008 and won six titles during that span. The Huskies await the winner of Arizona and Indiana on Friday night.
Neither of those teams has played in a Final Four.
It took a last-second stop to keep that streak going.
The Huskies (28-1) trailed 55-45 late in the third quarter before scor- ing 19 consecutive points, including 10 by the freshman phenom Bueckers, who became the third first-year player to make first-team All-America.
0Baylor (28-3) wouldn’t go away as Bueckers went cold in the final minutes. Trailing 64-55, NaLyssa Smith, an All-American herself, ended the Lady Bears’ drought with 6:47 left and sparked a 12-4 burst that got Baylor within one after Dijonai Carrington converted two free throws with 19.3 seconds left.
After a timeout, Baylor fouled Christyn Williams, who missed both free throws to give the Lady Bears one last chance.
Carrington, who finished with 22 points, drove the lane to the left and missed a contested jumper from the baseline. Williams corralled the rebound and was fouled with 0.8 seconds left.
She hit one of the free throws before Bueckers stole the inbounds pass at the buzzer. MERRIWEATHER HIRED AS MEMPHIS COACH >> Memphis has hired Katrina Merriweather as the new women’s basketball coach after she led Wright State to that program’s first NCAA Tournament win.
Athletic director Laird Veatch announced the hiring Monday.
Merriweather led No. 13 seed Wright State to an upset of fourth-seeded Arkansas in the first round last week before a loss to Missouri State in the second round.
She also led Wright State to the only three Horizon League championships in school history.
She was the Horizon League Coach of the Year three times in her five seasons at Wright State, which included all three of the Raiders’ NCAA Tournament berths. She was 11347 (70.6%).