The UConn women’s basketball team is back on top.
It’s been a long nine years for UConn since Breanna Stewart led the Huskies to their fourth consecutive championship back in 2016. UConn has had standouts roll through the doors in the past decade.
But none of those players have had the pedigree that Bueckers brought with her to UConn like Stewart did. All she, arguably, needed was a national championship to add to her resume to truly cement her place in the women’s college basketball world — not that she already hadn’t, overcoming injuries in her sophomore and junior seasons.
When UConn needed Bueckers to perform during Sunday’s National Championship game over South Carolina, the Huskies got what they needed. She finished the game with 17 points in a 84-59 win over South Carolina for UConn’s 12th national championship in program history, with Geno Auriemma at the helm of all of them.
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Perhaps most importantly, Bueckers is also on top of the women’s college basketball world.
UConn wins national title thanks to Sarah Strong, Azzi Fudd
But what UConn needed was teammates that wanted to win the national championship just as much as they wanted to see Bueckers get that long-awaited crown.
It was freshman Sarah Strong and graduate student Azzi Fudd who were the additional difference-makers in a dynasty-solidifying game for UConn.
Strong and Azzi both scored 24 points in the championship game, scoring bucket after bucket. Strong also posted a double-double with 15 rebounds, giving the Huskies plenty of chances for offensive possessions that led to a truly dominant finish.
One that UConn has been accustomed to throughout the 2024-25 season, winning by an average of 29.7 points per game.
With Bueckers held to just eight points in the first half, Strong’s then-11 rebounds and Fudd’s then-13 points put UConn on top, 36-26, and, seemingly, the game had been decided by then. It was up to the supporting cast – though, that phrase diminishes their role. Perhaps entire ensemble of Huskies – to put UConn back on top.
“This afternoon I went for a walk and as I’m walking outside the hotel at one point I said, ‘Dear God, I don’t need one of these, but damn my players do. Can you do it for them?’” Auriemma said immediately after the game. “So I think it means a lot personally that we can still do this after all these years, but I’ve said this 100 times – tomorrow I get up in the morning and I’m the same person … but these kids, their lives have changed forever and I’m glad I had a part in that.”
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Paige Bueckers, UConn blows out South Carolina in NCAA national title game
Reporting by Ben Grieco, Pensacola News Journal / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
