SPOKANE, Wash. — The UConn women’s basketball team battled back from a halftime deficit to overpower No. 3 seed Oklahoma 82-59 in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at Spokane Arena.
Superstar Paige Bueckers willed the Huskies to victory with a career-high 40 points shooting 59.3% from the field, and she hit a career-high six 3-pointers going 6-for-8 beyond the arc. The redshirt senior did everything for the Huskies beyond her scoring, adding six rebounds, a team-high two blocks and three steals. Bueckers is just the fifth UConn player to ever score 40-plus in a game, and she set a program record for points in an NCAA Tournament game.
Sophomore Ashlynn Shade joined Bueckers in double-digits with 12 points shooting 62.5% plus three steals, and freshman Sarah Strong logged her second double-double of the tournament with 11 points and 11 rebounds plus five assists and two steals.
The No. 2 seed Huskies advance their 29th Elite Eight appearance, and their fourth in the last five years. Before the victory, UConn was 0-2 this season in games where it trailed at the half, and Oklahoma was 22-0 in matchups where it led. UConn will play the winner of Saturday’s late game — USC and Kansas State — in Monday night’s regional final.
It took the Huskies some time to shake off the nerves early in the first quarter, giving up an 8-0 run to the Sooners over the first two minutes of the game. Oklahoma star Raegan Beers nailed a rare 3-pointer during the opening run, but UConn’s post players held their ground defensively and gave up a single first-quarter field goal to the 6-foot-4 center. Redshirt freshman Jana El Alfy grabbed four boards plus a steal in her first five minutes on the court, and the undersized Huskies were outrebounding Oklahoma at the end of the first.
Bueckers almost single-handedly pulled UConn out of the eight-point hole, scoring seven consecutive points on a 9-0 run that gave the team its first lead of the game. The superstar guard had 11 of the Huskies’s 17 first-quarter points to send them into the second with a five-point lead.
But Bueckers missed all three shots she attempted in the second quarter, giving Oklahoma an opening that it immediately took advantage of. The Sooners hit seven field goals in a row while scoring 10 unanswered points to reclaim the lead, and they capitalized on UConn’s mistakes with five points coming off of turnovers. Oklahoma guard Payton Verhulst scored all 13 of her first-half points in the second, and the Sooners shot 62.5% from the field in the quarter while holding UConn to just 25%.
Despite leading the turnover and rebounding battles at halftime, the Huskies trailed 36-32 largely because of an uncharacteristically poor shooting performance. Star guard Azzi Fudd went just 2-for-7 in the first half, and Shade was the only player on the team to hit multiple 3-pointers before halftime. Strong didn’t score her first points until late in the second quarter after an 0-for-6 start, and she and Bueckers combined for five of the Huskies’ nine first-half turnovers.
Bueckers came out of the halftime locker room with a vengeance, swishing a 3-pointer seconds into the third quarter to set the tone for the Huskies. She scored the first five points of the second half for UConn, and point guard Kaitlyn Chen gave the team its first lead since the start fo the second quarter with her first made layup of the game.
Bueckers impacted nearly every play to start the third quarter, hitting a second 3-pointer then assisting Chen on her second basket off of a steal. She followed the assist by floating in a jumper that put the Huskies on a 9-0 run, giving the team its largest lead of the game. Strong then got hot with five straight points, and she ended the third quarter with 11 points and 10 ...
