Bueckers and Huskies send Blue Devils home
Former Player of Year nets 24 points for Connecticut
Connecticut is testing how much depth is needed to make a run in the women’s NCAA Tournament.
Having a healthy Paige Buckers certainly helps.
Bueckers scored 24 points to lead thirdseeded UConn and its injury-depleted roster back to the Elite Eight with a 53-45 victory over No. 7 seed Duke on Saturday night in Portland, Oregon.
“The game was very physical on both ends of the floor. The pace was fast, both sides trying to push it. So you feel it, but at this point of the season, you’ve got to be mentally tougher,” Bueckers said. “Everybody’s got aches and boo-boos during this time, and it’s just about who powers through it better, who’s mentally tougher.”
A year after having to watch March Madness while sidelined by a knee injury, Bueckers was again the best player on the floor, lifting the Huskies into their 28th regional final. This one will be among the more unlikely in coach Geno Auriemma’s 39-year tenure.
UConn dressed eight players and played only six. But it still has Bueckers, the 2021 national Player of the Year, who has returned to that form after injuries limited or sidelined her for most of the past two seasons.
The Huskies’ victory set up the matchup fans had anticipated since the brackets were released — top seed Southern California against the Huskies on Monday night, with Bueckers squaring off against fabulous freshman JuJu Watkins.
Aaliyah Edwards and KK Arnold each scored 12 points for the Huskies, who scored their second-fewest points in a March Madness victory.
“Scoring was not going to be easy tonight at both ends,” Auriemma said.
Oluchi Okananwa led Duke (22-12) with 15 points and Reigan Richardson added 10, but after ousting No. 2 seed Ohio State in the second round, the Blue Devils disappeared at the offensive end. They scored 13 firsthalf points and had 27 going to the fourth quarter before a flurry that put a scare into the Huskies.
Southern California 74, Baylor 70: Freshman All-American JuJu Watkins drove the length of the floor for a go-ahead three-point play with 3:13 left and finished with 30 points in Portland, leading top-seeded USC (29-5) into the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1994.
“It was just a matter of turning the game around,” Watkins said. “And I knew I had to do something.”
Watkins scored nine straight points for the Trojans in the closing minutes and powered a decisive 8-0 run. McKenzie Forbes added 14 points for USC.
Sarah Andrews scored 17 points for Baylor (26-8), which was making its 20th straight March Madness appearance and was vying for its first Elite Eight spot since 2021, Kim Mulkey’s final season as coach of the Bears.