Paige Bueckers, Sarah Strong Guide UConn to Final Four
In this story:
Despite a spirited, JuJu Watkins-less effort, the Women of Troy were no match for the Connecticut Huskies of Storrs.
A dominant dual effort from Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong clinched the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament's Spokane 4 region with a 78-64 victory over the University of Southern California Trojans on Monday night in the Pacific Northwest.
The Huskies (35-3) advanced to their 24th Final Four appearance with the win and denied the Trojans their first national semifinal visit since 1986 for the second straight season. UConn also avenged one of their three losses of this season, as USC previously prevailed in a narrow 72-70 decision in Storrs back in December.
Strong continued to show that her first foray into March Madness was far from beginner's luck: with 22 points and a career-best 17 rebounds, Strong became the first UConn freshman to secure a 20-10 game in the Elite Eight round or later.
While falling short of a third consecutive career-best in scoring, Bueckers made more history with a 31-point showing: she moved into third place on the Huskies' illustrious all-time scoring list (passing Napheesa Collier) and became the first UConn woman to post three consecutive triple decade performances.
Sans Watkins, USC (31-5) got off to a sterling start thanks to an early onslaught from Kiki Iriafen and Rayah Marshall, who united for all but one tally in an 11-5 run over the first 5:46. UConn's headlining tandem restored Storrs sanity with a 9-0 run to close things out. The permanent lead was inflated to 14 by halftime and the Huskies seemed poised to cruise from there on out.
One last Trojan push, however, made things interesting: the Connecticut lead summitted at 19 but USC inched their way back into the game with a 13-2 run that narrowed the gap to five for the final period. An immediate three-pointer from Azzi Fudd, her first successful sink against the Trojans this season, set the tone for the fourth quarter, which saw Connecticut take control for good thanks to the outside prowess of her, Strong, and Bueckers. The latter closed things out with 11 period points to seal the deal.
Bueckers, Strong, and Kaitlyn Chen (15 points on 6-of-9 from the field) united for all but 10 of the Connecticut points. USC had held its previous tournament opponents to less than 27 percent from beyond the arc but Huskies were 10-of-22 from deep, with all the successful tries coming from the arms of Bueckers, Fudd, or Strong. Marshall wound up leading the top-seeded Trojans and all participants with 23 points and 15 rebounds in defeat.
With the Spokane 4 region win secured, UConn will now play for a national championship berth against UCLA on Friday night in Tampa (9 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
