Stuffing stat sheet
Bueckers’ strong all-around game pushes Huskies into Big East semifinals
UNCASVILLE — Paige Bueckers advocated for teammate Aaliyah Edwards to win the Big East Player of the Year award, but the UConn women’s basketball star proved herself more than deserving of the honor with a 29-point performance against Providence in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals.
Bueckers led top-seeded UConn to an 86-53 win over the No. 9 Friars at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament, and the Huskies will advance to face No. 5 Marquette, a 50-48 winner over No. 4 Villanova, in the semifinals Sunday.
By the end of the first quarter against Providence, Bueckers already had 11 points. She finished shooting 10-for-23 from the field and 5-for-10 from 3-point
range, her best outside percentage . She came one point short of her fifth 30-point game of the season and third in the last two weeks. The Huskies guard was just as
impactful down the stat sheet, also logging team-highs with six assists, nine rebounds, three blocks and three steals.
“Paige spends a lot of time preparing for these moments. She’s very much invested in the game … and she believes in herself,” coach Geno Auriemma said. “She expects to conquer every situation. Yes, it’s talent. Yes, it’s preparation and putting the time in, but there’s nothing that can replace the belief you have in yourself that you were born for this.”
Providence led by as many as four points in the opening quarter, helped by four Huskies turnovers in the first five minutes, but UConn responded with a 23-6 run that put it up by 13 after the first quarter. Turnovers again allowed the Friars to stay in the game as
when she came back, it was just amazing the growth, the confidence in the net, I trust her no matter what.”
UConn has been knocking on this door for years, but Northeastern has had it barred. This year, UConn finally overcame the other Huskies to win Hockey East's regular season for the first time, and got the chance to host the conference tournament. It's expected that only one team will represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament, so this was win-or-go-home week for the program.
UConn beat Holy Cross in the quarterfinals, Boston College in overtime in the semis, then Northeastern, playing on-brand hockey after a slow start, was once again the obstacle.
“There's some storybook stuff in there,” UConn coach Chris MacKenzie said. “It was just our time. You get into this game enough times, it's going to be your time.”
UConn (25-7-5) and Northeastern (25-11-3) played a largely even game through two periods. At the start of the third, Northeastern took three penalties in short order. Tory Mariano (cross checking) and Kristina Allard (tripping) were whistled at the same time, giving UConn a 5-on-3 advantage for two full
minutes, With seven seconds left in those penalties, Megan Carter, the top defender, got a game misconduct. That gave UConn nearly seven minutes on the power play, but Northeastern goalie Gwyneth Philips stopped all 10 shots.
“I didn't think they were going to beat her today,” Northeastern coach Dave Flint said.
Such a missed opportunity often comes back to haunt the team that missed it, but UConn refocused and continued to create opportunities even
strength.
“Just fall into the game plan,” Chan said, “I have an amazing team ahead of me and just trusted that they were going to do their job, I was going to do my job, and never let up.”
The game went to overtime, with the format calling for 20-minute, sudden-death periods until someone scored, no shootout. The first session was about to expire, less than a minute left, when Riley Grimley got the puck to the point, where defender Ainsley Svetek took a shot. Woodworth was right at the line and tipped it in.
“It was pretty electric out there,” Woodworth said. “Shout out to Ainsley to get the puck to the net where I was right there to tip it in. It was pretty amazing.”
UConn celebrated, throwing sticks, hats and gloves to the ice while Northeastern players huddled around Philips.
For several tense moments, the refs reviewed the goal to see if Woodworth was in the crease. Finally, they ruled it a legit goal and UConn had its first hockey banner, men's or women's, to hang at Toscano.
“We made them earn it,” Flint said. “We made them earn it and testament to them. They were under the pressure. They played us three times before in the championship and came up short. Credit to Chris and his staff and his players, they battled all year long. They are one of the toughest teams defensively to crack.”
UConn has outscored its opponents 97-46. Chan has a
1.28 goals-against average in 25 games, 24 starts.
“She has been really good all year, and she's been through a lot, a lot of injuries she's been through,” MacKenzie said. “It's just nice to see her rewarded for all the perseverance and the determination she's showed. Any experience like she has is going to help you grow, and the times there were pressure on us, she just kind of settled things down for us, made a big save.”
The Huskies will learn their tournament assignment Sunday at noon on ESPN News.
“I couldn't be prouder of this group,” MacKenzie said. “You get here enough times, eventually you're going to come through and that's what this program just did.”
Defender Jules Constantinople, from East Haven, represented Northeastern on the all-tournament team.