’Cats defense denies Huskies
Third-seeded Arizona stifles Bueckers, UConn in upset
SAN ANTONIO — It’s over.
The NCAA Tournament will culminate Sunday, but UConn won’t be there. The Huskies, the most illustrious program in women’s basketball, will go another year without a national championship. Arizona made sure of it. The third-seeded Wildcats, a double-digit underdog, were tougher, stronger and, most importantly, all around better, stunning No. 1 UConn 69-59 in the national semifinals Friday night at the Alamodome.
“I thought we came out with the wrong mentality,” junior Christyn Williams said. “We thought it was going to be easy. We got flustered.”
It was fourth straight Final Four loss for the Huskies, whose title drought now rests at five years.
Arizona (21-5) will face top-seeded Stanford in an all-Pac-12 championship Sunday in San Antonio.
This wasn’t the ending UConn (28-2) had scripted. It rarely is. Nobody has won more this time of year than Geno Auriemma’s Huskies, who own 11 national championships. Arizona hadn’t even been to a Final Four before Friday, let alone actually won there.
But history didn’t matter to the Wildcats, who weren’t intimidated by the UConn “mystique.” They bullied the Huskies early
and often, swallowing their explosive offense.
UConn pulled within five with 1:03 left on a layup by Aaliyah Edwards, but never closer.
The Huskies shot just 35.7% and committed 12 turnovers. Their 59 points were a season-low.
Pac-12 Player of the Year Aari McDonald lit up UConn for 26 points. The 5-foot-6 guard received more than enough help from her supporting cast, as Sam Thomas contributed 12 points and Cate Reese scored 11.
UConn star freshman Paige Bueckers finished with 18 points while junior Evina Westbrook contributed 10.
Arizona’s lead was 4839 after three quarters and rose back to 12 in the fourth. Mounting any type of comeback became infinitely tougher after Williams — the Huskies’ leading scorer, with 20 points — fouled out with 3:51 left.
UConn was all out of sorts early, shooting 8 of 25 from the floor in the first half and committing nine turnovers. The Wildcats succeeded in neutralizing Bueckers, often rotating two defenders her way.
Arizona led by as many as 12 on multiple occasions before settling into halftime up 32-22.
The deficit might’ve been worse if not for Williams, who was the only Husky in double figures at half with 12 points.
In addition to bottling up Bueckers, who made just one field goal in the first half, the Wildcats did a number on the Huskies’ one-two inside punch of Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Edwards. The UConn bigs were a combined 1 of 8 from the floor in the half.