UConn are again on prime of girls’s basketball, profitable their twelfth nationwide championship by routing defending champion South Carolina 82-59 on Sunday behind Azzi Fudd’s 24 factors.
Sarah Robust added 24 factors and 15 rebounds whereas Paige Bueckers had 17 factors in her ultimate recreation with the Huskies.
Bueckers capped her stellar profession with the Huskies’ first championship since 2016, ending a nine-year title drought for the group. That was longest barren stretch for coach Geno Auriemma and his Huskies because the group gained their first championship in 1995 led by Rebecca Lobo.
Since then the Huskies have had dominant championship runs, together with within the early 2000s led by Sue Hen and Diana Taurasi, 2009-10 with Maya Moore and eventually the 4 straight from 2013-16 with Breanna Stewart. All had been in attendance in Florida on Sunday to see the Huskies’ newest title.
“These gamers make me need to dangle in there each day … It’s been a very long time since I’ve been this emotional [after a game],” mentioned Auriemma.
Lastly wholesome, Bueckers – the anticipated No 1 general decide on this 12 months’s WNBA draft – delivered for the Huskies all through their championship season.
It was the one factor lacking from her unimaginable UConn profession that was slowed by accidents. She was the primary freshman to win AP Participant of the Yr earlier than lacking a lot of her sophomore season with a tibial plateau fracture and meniscus tear. She then tore an ACL earlier than the following season.
Auriemma and Bueckers hugged because the Huskies sealed their victory. Requested what he had mentioned to his star participant, Auriemma replied: “I really like you, that’s all I may say.”
UConn closed the primary half of Sunday’s recreation up 10 factors after which put the sport away within the third quarter behind Fudd, Robust and Bueckers. The trio mixed for 23 of the group’s 26 factors within the quarter. UConn had been up 50-39 with 3:21 left within the interval earlier than closing with a 12-3 run to place the sport away.
Fudd and Robust received it began with back-to-back threes, and the rout was on. Auriemma subbed Bueckers, Fudd and Robust out with 1:32 left. Bueckers and Auriemma had a protracted hug on the sideline, having lastly gotten the championship that he so wished for her.
Daybreak Staley’s group had been making an attempt for a 3rd title in 4 years and fourth general. It will have tied her with Kim Mulkey for third most behind Auriemma and former Tennessee Corridor of Fame coach Pat Summitt, who had eight.
The Huskies’ final title recreation look got here in 2022 when Staley’s group beat UConn to start out the Gamecocks’ present run of success, a recreation that ended Auriemma’s good file in title video games.
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