TAMPA, Fla. — There may never be a better storybook written than the one the UConn women’s basketball team completed on Sunday afternoon at Amalie Arena with an 82-59 win over South Carolina in the 2025 NCAA Championship game.
In the 40th year of coach Geno Auriemma’s legendary career at the helm of the program, the Huskies defeated the reigning national champions to bring home the 12th NCAA title in program history after a nine-year drought. As the only No. 2 seed in the Final Four, UConn dethroned three consecutive No. 1 seeds by double-digit margins to emerge as the last team standing in 2025.
Star guard Azzi Fudd made her name as an elite 3-point shooter, but the redshirt junior dominated the Gamecocks despite going just 1-for-6 from beyond the arc. Fudd led the Huskies with 24 points shooting 9-for-17 from the field, and she added five rebounds plus three steals for one of her most complete games of the season on the biggest stage.
Freshman Sarah Strong‘s star also shined brighter than ever under the lights of the national title game. She logged her fourth double-double of the 2025 NCAA Tournament and her 13th of the season finishing with 24 points and 15 rebounds plus three blocks, two steals and five assists.
Though her final stat line wasn’t eye-popping, Sunday’s victory was all about fulfilling a dream for superstar Paige Bueckers. The redshirt senior ended her UConn career by accomplishing the single biggest goal she set when she committed to the Huskies as the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2020, logging 17 points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocks in the victory. She surpassed Hall of Famer Maya Moore for the most points in NCAA Tournament history, finishing her career with 477.
Both teams put on a show in the first quarter, going bucket-for-bucket over the opening minutes. There were five lead changes before the first media timeout, and neither team led by more than four at any point in the quarter. All five starters on both rosters had points in the first six minutes, and both teams were shooting nearly 60% from the field to start the game.
After the early back-and-forth, the matchup quickly evolved into a defensive battle as both teams went scoreless for more than three minutes late in the first. The Huskies forced four turnovers in the opening quarter all off of steals led by two from Strong, and though they also gave up three of their own, the Gamecocks were never able to capitalize with points off the lost possessions. Bueckers sent the team into the second quarter with a burst of momentum, hitting a baseline jump shot assisted by Strong in the final seconds to put the Huskies ahead 19-14.
UConn began to slowly build its lead in the second quarter after Bueckers opened it with one of her signature mid-range pull-ups. But it was Strong who truly took over on both ends of the floor to enter halftime two points shy of a double-double. She logged 11 rebounds in the first half plus eight points shooting 50% from the field, and she added two blocks, two steals and two assists.
The Huskies pulled ahead by double digits for the first time after Fudd hit a layup to lead the team with 13 points at halftime, but South Carolina scored on back-to-back possessions to get back within seven in the final 35 seconds. After the team started 0-for-6 from 3-point range, sophomore Ashlynn Shade caught a pass from Bueckers in the corner and nailed the wide-open look to send UConn into halftime leading ...
