Women’s March Madness title game set as Paige Bueckers and UConn dismantle UCLA to book South Carolina showdown

By JAKE FENNER

For the 13th time in their history, the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team will be playing in the national championship game.

Led by WBCA Freshman of the Year Sarah Strong, the Huskies dominated from beginning to end as they defeated No. 1 overall seed UCLA 85-51 in Tampa. It’s the largest margin of victory in the history of the women’s Final Four.

By game’s end, the Huskies shot 55 percent from the field while stifling everyone on the Bruins not named Lauren Betts.

While Betts finished the night with a game-high 26 points on 11-for-18 shooting, only five of the nine other players on UCLA that saw action in this game logged points.

Excluding Betts, UCLA only managed 25 combined points on a 9-for-34 shooting line.

Meanwhile, UConn’s Azzi Fudd had the best half of her career with the Huskies as she dropped 19 points in the first half of the game.

The UConn Huskies are off to their 13th women’s basketball championship game 

UCLA’s Lauren Betts put up a game-best 26 points, but had little support from her teammates

The Huskies were led by dominant freshman Sarah Strong – who put up 22 points

Azzi Fudd (L) and Paige Bueckers (R) also put up double-digit points in the victory in Tampa

Paige Bueckers, the leader of this unit playing in her final games as a part of the team, put up 16 points and five rebounds.

Other UConn scorers included guard KK Arnold (9 points, 3 assists), guard Kaitlyn Chen (6 points, 3 rebounds, five assists), and center Jana El-Alfy (6 points, 8 rebounds, two assists). 

But it was Strong who led the way for Connecticut – putting up 22 points while shooting 9-fo-13 from the field and adding eight points and two assists to her tally.

The Huskies never trailed at any point in the game and finished the first quarter up by double digits. By the end of the first half, they were up 20 points – while holding UCLA to just nine second-quarter points.

UConn outscored UCLA 43-29 in the second half as Strong, Bueckers, & Co. cruised to an easy victory.

It sets up a decisive national title game on Sunday – a re-match of the 2022 national championship against South Carolina. The Gamecocks, coached by Dawn Staley, knocked off fellow one-seed Texas earlier in the evening.

Staley won that game in 2022 – winning South Carolina’s first women’s basketball title and becoming the only coach to ever beat UConn coach Geno Auriemma in a national championship game.

Earlier this season, UConn traveled down to Columbia, South Carolina to take on the Gamecocks at Colonial Life Arena. The Huskies won by 29 and ended South Carolina’s 71-game home winning streak.

South CarolinaMarch Madness

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Women’s March Madness title game set as Paige Bueckers and UConn dismantle UCLA to book South Carolina showdown

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