Azzi Fudd make her St. John's Catholic (DC) family proud

Women's Final Four MVP helped UConn win yet another national championship

UConn star Azzi Fudd holds the 2025 national championship trophy as the Final Four MVP shares a proud moment with her St. John's College (Washington, DC) coach Jonathan Scribner. / Photo courtesy of Jonathan Scribner

UConn shooting guard Azzi Fudd put on a spectacular show Sunday in the women’s NCAA Championship game in Tampa, Florida. 

The St. John’s College High School (Washington, DC) product scored 24 points to lead UConn past South Carolina, 82-59. 

Fudd, a Northern Virginia native, was named the 2025 Final Four Most Outstanding Player and helped UConn (37-3) capture the women’s basketball program’s 12th NCAA championship. 

South Carolina (35-4) did not have an answer for the dynamic UConn triumvirate of Fudd, Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong who helped the Huskies earn their first national title since 2016. 

Fudd along with her backcourt mate Bueckers (17 points, six rebounds) and the freshman phenom Strong (24 points, 15 rebounds) helped UConn put a bow on the 2024-25 campaign in a dominant fashion.  

“The past four years this group has been through so much adversity together,” Fudd explained during the post-game press conference, “so to be able to do this for our seniors, I really don’t have words to describe like what this feels like, what it means to me but I’m super grateful and I’m just super proud of this entire team.” 

The 2021 St. John’s graduate erupted for eleven points in the third quarter to help propel UConn to victory and credited her teammates for giving her the ball at the right time.  

“I think going into the third quarter we knew we had a good lead,” said Fudd. “We played a great first half, we wanted to continue that and we didn’t want to let them back into the game.” 

Throughout her basketball journey, Fudd has been supported by her parents Tim and Katie who were both in attendance at the Final Four. 

Jonathan Scribner, Fudd’s high school basketball coach at St. John’s, was also in Tampa to help cheer Azzi and her teammates on to victory. He described the Final Four as a “pretty amazing experience.” 

Members of Scribner’s coaching staff also in attendance at the Final Four included Mooriah Rowser, Jerria Houdhan and Tim Fudd, Azzi’s father. 

Brian Brennan, a former St. John’s assistant coach, showed his support for Fudd via social media. 

“CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2025 MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER OF THE FINAL FOUR AZZI FUDD!!,” Brennan posted on Facebook.  

As a high school sophomore, Fudd guided St. John’s to a 35-1 record and the District of Columbia State Athletic Association (DCSAA) tournament title. She averaged 26 points, six rebounds and 2.5 assists per game and was named Gatorade’s National Girls Basketball Player of the Year. She was the first sophomore to ever win that award. Fudd also earned USA Today’s All-USA Player of the Year honor as a high school sophomore in 2019. 

Fudd’s high school and college basketball career has been beset by injuries but the 2021 McDonald’s All-American and Morgan Wootten Player of the Year has persevered and stayed the course. She’s shown resiliency in the face of adversity. 

Fudd led St. John’s to Washington Catholic Athletic Conference titles during her first two seasons of high school but suffered a knee injury after her sophomore campaign in 2019. 

She missed half of her junior campaign and when she returned to the lineup “she was still Azzi Fudd but a shell of herself physically” according to Scribner. 

Fudd became the first St. John’s graduate to capture an NCAA title in women’s basketball since Marissa Coleman accomplished the feat in 2006 when she helped guide the University of Maryland to their first and only national championship. 

“Lindsay Allen got there twice [with Notre Dame],” said Scribner, “but they ran into a UConn buzzsaw I think both times.” 

Scribner has spent the past 18 years as the head coach at St. John’s and finally got to personally witness one of his former players reach the mountaintop of major college basketball. 

“Obviously,” said Scribner, “it’s great exposure for the school.” 

Meanwhile, Fudd has another year of college eligibility left and recently announced that she would return to UConn next season instead of opting for the 2025 WNBA Draft.