Bueckers, No. 3 UConn hold off Fair, Syracuse

seven of the game’s final eight points.

Sophie Burrows scored a career-high 18 points and Georgia Wooley had 13 of her 18 in the first half for the Orange.

UConn led by 11 points at halftime and Shade’s 3-pointer from the right corner, her fourth of the night, gave the Huskies a 53-44 heading into the fourth quarter.

But after UConn pushed that lead to 10 points, Husky point guard Nika Muhl, who had been guarding Fair, picked up three fouls in 30 seconds and fouled out of the game.

Coach Geno Auriemma had to be restrained by his assistants after she was called for her last, an offensive foul as she was bringing the ball up court, with UConn up 63-55 and 5:17 left in the game.

After Shade extended the lead back to 10 with a jumper, Fair and Burrows hit back-to-back 3-pointers and an elbow jumper from Alyssa Latham made it 65-63 with 1:53 left.

But freshman Arnold made a clutch 3-pointer from the left wing with 28 seconds left pushed the lead back to six and Syracuse missed four contested 3-pointers down the stretch.

The Orange had an early 16-13 lead after 3-pointer from Burrows, But the Huskies responded with a 17-2 run, keyed by three corner 3-pointers from Shade.

Bueckers, who was a first-team All-American, had 20 points before intermission and her shot with three seconds left in the half sent the teams to the locker room with UConn leading 39-28.

This was the 53rd meeting between the former Big East rivals and UConn now leads the series 40-13. Syracuse came in having lost 26 straight games against UConn by an average of more than 30 points.

The teams last played in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, an 83-47 rout by the Huskies.

Bueckers’ 32 points was the most she’s ever scored in an NCAA Tournament game.

Muhl’s pass that first-quarter set up one of

Shade’s five three pointers was her 660th assist, passing Moriah Jefferson for the most in program history.