Big East champions
UConn women defeat Marquette 73-39 for Big East Tournament title.
Coach Geno Auriemma said going into the Big East Tournament that he didn’t think his UConn women’s basketball team had played to its ceiling yet, even as it entered the postseason with a 22-1 record and the conference regular season crown.
This weekend showed the basketball world that that version of the Huskies has arrived — with dreams of the program’s 12th national title increasingly within reach.
UConn breezed through the Big East Tournament never having trailed, behind victories of 36 points over St. John’s, 45 over Villanova and 34 in the championship game Monday, beating second-seeded Marquette, 73-39. And the Huskies did it in vintage UConn style, behind an early run to demoralize the opponent and put the game out of reach. Just this time, it was
in their third game in three days, a championship setting and against a good NCAA Tournament team in Marquette that had given the Huskies a tough go in a 10-point game just a week before.
Within a blink of an eye, the damage was done: UConn was up 12-2, then 27-6 and 29-10 by the end of the first, and the Huskies got it done in all phases: forcing turnovers and pushing in transition; making 3s that made Auriemma’s “worst shooting team in America” comments from earlier in the season seem like a relic of the past.
And while Paige Bueckers more than got her share, finishing with a game-high 23 points on 15 shots, UConn achieved the win as a team, not just solely behind their freshman star.
Junior Christyn Williams (16 points) was unstoppable early, her dominance from her 26-point semifinal game carrying over as she hit her first four shots and ended the first quarter with nine points. Her defense on Marquette’s top scorer, Selena Lott, once more impressed, with Lott finishing with twopoints.
Junior Evina Westbrook chipped in a pair of first-quarter 3s, her first of the tournament. Junior Olivia Nelson-Ododa did a little bit of everything, going into halftime, where UConn was up 41-23, with four points, four rebounds, four assists and four blocks.
The non-Bueckers freshmen camethrough, too, shining all weekend in their first postseason play. Aaliyah Edwards had moments of brilliance in the post, including one gorgeous connection with NelsonOdoda for a layup in the second quarter. Nika Muhl’s five points in the third —a 3, followed by a stealand-score — came at an opportune time, shifting the momentum back in UConn’s favor for good after Marquette gained some momentum. She’d finish with 11 points, UConn’s third-best scorer on the evening.
Marquette slowed things down in the second, pulling within 18 and then 16 early in the third, but would never get any closer as the Huskies made their last run. The Golden Eagles may have been the secondbest teamin the Big East, but there’s no match for UConn in peak form in March.
Not in the Big East. And perhaps maybe not even elsewhere across the country.
This U Conn team maybe young. It may not have any returning All-Americans. It maynot have any players who have the first-hand experience on what it takes to win national title.
But in a year without clear front-runners for the championship, it’s playing its best basketball when it matters most, with a coach who knows a thing or two about getting his team to the finish line. Who knows what’ll happen from here?