Paige Bueckers had to take over in the second half, but the Huskies are moving on to yet another Elite Eight.
No. 2 UConn ran away from No. 3 Oklahoma in the third quarter to grab a 82-59 win at Spokane Arena in Washington on Saturday afternoon in the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA tournament. That officially sent UConn back to the Elite Eight for the 18th time in the last 19 tournaments, and kept their quest for a national title alive in Bueckers’ last season with the program.
Bueckers dropped a career-high 40 points, 29 of which came in the second half, in what ended up being a dominant outing for the presumed No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming WNBA Draft. She surpassed Tina Charles and moved into fourth on UConn’s all-time scoring list in the win, too, and set a UConn record for the most points scored in a single tournament game.
She's now the only UConn player in the last 25 years to record multiple 30-point games in the same NCAA tournament. She dropped 34 points, which matched her career-high, in the Huskies' win over South Dakota State in the second round. She also passed Maya Moore with her seventh 25-point NCAA tournament game, which is also school record.
UConn, after Oklahoma opened the game on an 8-0 run, punched right back with a 17-4 run of its own to take the lead after the first quarter. That burst was powered almost completely by Bueckers, too, who dropped 11 points in the first 10 minutes.
Oklahoma still took a four-point lead into the locker room at halftime, however, after Payton Verhulst erupted in the second quarter. She dropped 13 points in the period, which included a logo 3-pointer, to push the Sooners back on top. They held Bueckers scoreless.
That, though, was the end of the Huskies' troubles. They came out hot in the the quarter and nearly ran away with the game completely. UConn outscored Oklahoma 27-10 in that period alone to take a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter. Bueckers dropped 10 of their first 16 points in the quarter to help build up the lead, too. Oklahoma had eight turnovers and made just four field goals as a unit during that stretch.
Bueckers didn't stop there. UConn quickly pushed its lead to 20 by the midway point of the final quarter while Bueckers hit her career high to cruise to ...
