SPOKANE, Wash. — When Kaitlyn Chen committed to the UConn women’s basketball team out of the transfer portal after graduating from Princeton in 2024, it was for moments like Monday night.
In the first Elite Eight appearance of her college career, going up against No. 1 seed USC in front of more than 10,000 fans at Spokane Arena, the senior point guard looked utterly fearless. Behind superstars Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong, she was the only player to score for UConn in the first quarter, and she finished with a postseason-high 15 points to help lift the Huskies to a 78-64 victory.
“I was like, I have my Princeton degree, so I just wanted to do what was best for me basketball-wise and put me in the best position to win a national championship. That’s why I came here,” Chen said, grinning in her Final Four hat and t-shirt in the postgame locker room. “I just felt like I had an adrenaline rush sort of. Honestly, it was just my teammates that found me in transition. I did the easy part and just ran up the court.”
Coach Geno Auriemma was confident in what he was getting when he signed Chen as his first transfer since 2022-23 this season, but he was as animated as he has been all season watching her talent come to fruition on the NCAA Tournament stage. The 71-year-old coach doubled over punching the air in a rare show of celebration late in the second quarter when Chen drove left-handed to the rim and hooked in a layup, drawing a foul against USC freshman Avery Howell and hitting her free throw to boot.
“Somebody else has to step up, and I thought Kaitlyn was fantastic tonight,” Auriemma said. “Probably more than anything I’m really proud of her because she left college, took a chance, (said) I want to go to the Final Four, I want to try to play for a national championship, I’m glad that we’re able to provide the opportunity for her.”
Sixth-year forward Aubrey Griffin also unexpectedly rose to the occasion when the Huskies needed her most against the Trojans’ loaded front court. Griffin has appeared in just 14 games after spending the first several months of the season recovering from an ACL tear, and she also sat out the Big East Tournament due to lingering knee soreness. She hadn’t played since a brief six-minute appearance in the Huskies’ second-round win over South Dakota State before Auriemma pulled her off the bench to start the fourth.
“They were really taking advantage of our lack of size in the lane, and they got to the rim really easy a couple times with a couple offensive rebounds,” Auriemma said. “I thought, maybe we can get a little more size in there, a little more quickness, and I thought it kind of sort of stemmed the tide a little bit. I also knew there it would be a big help on the other end, because she’s good at getting us another possession, getting us an offensive rebound … It was ...
