UConn has made it to the national championship game first time since 2022. The quest for a national championship ring is still ongoing for Paige Bueckers. On Friday, Bueckers and the UConn women’s basketball team defeated Lauren Betts and UCLA, the top-seeded team in the Final Four, 85-51.
The victory margin is the biggest in Final Four history and the first 30-point triumph by any team in the Final Four.
Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd scored 41 points between them, while Bueckers had a quiet night by her standards, scoring only 16 points. In addition to forcing 19 Bruins mistakes overall, the Huskies recorded 13 steals and scored 55% from the field.
Early in the first quarter, the two teams were tied, with just five points separating them. With fewer than three minutes remaining, Fudd took over.
The Bruins had no response after the graduate guard scored 19 points in the opening 20 minutes and 12 in the second. The only player with more than five points was center Lauren Betts, and UCLA turned the ball over fourteen times in the first half.
With a 42–22 advantage going into the half, the Huskies didn’t look back. In the second half, Sarah Strong, a forward, and Paige Bueckers, a guard, joined Fudd in scoring a lot of points. They finished the game with 22 and 16 points, respectively. Strong scored 20 points or more in a Final Four game, making him the third rookie in UConn history to do it. The Huskies outscored the Bruins 43-29 and shot 64% from the field, somehow outperforming their first half performance.
UConn will play the national championship game against South Carolina, ranked first On Sunday.
