Uconn dominates South Carolina, wins 12mo. national title

ByDavid Mitchell
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With 65 combined points of Azzi Fudd, Sarah Strong and Paige Bueckers, the Huskies are again champions of the NCAA female basketball.

Tampa, Florida – Uconn has waited nine years to get your twelfth national championship. But, in many ways, he arrived at the right time.

The Huskies, second to series heads, left on the way three heads No. 1, culminating with a 82-59 victory over South Carolina In the final of the NCAA tournament on Sunday, getting a title that may have an even greater meaning due to the path traveled by the Senior program and star Paige Bueckers To get it.

After winning four consecutive championships from 2013 to 2016 with the Superstar Breanna Stewart as the protagonist, the Huskies faced a series of obstacles with harsh defeats and heartbreaking injuries.

But on Sunday, the Huskies returned to the top of female basketball, leaving Bueckers-who is expected to be the first selection of the WNBA draft on April 14-with its first national championship.

Bueckers, in tears, sank his face into the coach’s shoulder Genoiemma Geno while hugging themselves in the band when they left the game just over a minute of the end. Mission fulfilled, finally.

With the escorts bueckers and Azzi Fuddwho lost most of last season for a knee injury, healthy at the same time, and the country’s best rookie, the eaves Sarah StrongUconn looked like many of his former champion teams. Not only the best team, but also the one that played best.

Fudd and Strong ended with 24 points each, and Bueckers added 17. The rookie Joyce Edwards and the Sophomore Tessa Johnson They led South Carolina with 10 points each, while the Gamecocks stayed at the gates of repeating the national title and ended with a 35-4 record.

Uconn now adds 12 wins in the Final Four for 20 or more points. All other teams in the history of the Women’s Division add 11 together.

Before Sunday’s game, Bueckers asked how he would like to be remembered in UCONN.

“As a great teammate, a great leader. I think those are the two most important things for me: being someone with people love to play, who helps their partners improve and carry Uconn’s shirt with pride,” he said.

Now, it will also be remembered as national champion. It is true that there were moments in his career in which it seemed that this would not happen. UConn’s disappointments date back to the end of their streak of 111 consecutive victories in the Final Four de Dallas in 2017. Huskies were defeated with a shot on the horn in extra time in national semifinals by Mississippi State.

Then, in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2024, the Huskies also lost in national semifinals. They fell into the match for the 2022 National Championship against South Carolina and the 2023 Final Four was lost, the only time from a defeat in the 2007 Eight elite that the Huskies have not reached the last weekend of the season. Bueckers lost the 2022-23 season due to a knee injury.

With FUDD it was last season, the Huskies reached the limit against Iowa in the national semifinals, but lost 71-69. This generated a lot of pressure on Bueckers and Huskies to make their dreams come true this year.

UCONN was not perfect this season, as has been the case of six former UConn champions teams. But after a defeat for 80-76 in Tennessee on February 6, the Huskies did not lose a single game. They won the titles of the regular season and the Big East Tournament, and then dominated the NCAA tournament (including victories over USC, UCLA and South Carolina, serial heads No. 1) to end a 37-3 record.

On Sunday, the Huskies got 19-14 up after a first quarter marked by a vertiginous rhythm and an intense inner defense by UConn. The Huskies marked the guideline with 52.9% success in field shots in the first period, while the gamecocks stayed at 40%. Unlike UCLA in her defeat in the semifinals against Uconn, South Carolina took the ball to the spaces she was looking for, but did not end well.

The overwhelming Strong’s bloc to an attempt at Raven Johnson at 9:04 of the second quarter sent a message, just like his game during his first postseason.

Strong established a points record for a first -year student in a single NCAA tournament with 114surpassing a Tamika Catchings of Tennessee, who had scored 111 in 1998. That year, by the way, Strong’s mother, Allison Feasterhe led Harvard as head of series No. 16, surpassing Stanford, No. 1, in the NCAA tournament. Feaster continued his 10 -seasons at WNBA, where his daughter will go in a few years.

Strong is also the first player (regardless of her class) to get at least 100 points, 25 assists and 10 caps in a single NCAA tournament Since the plugs became an official statistic in 1988.

South Carolina coach, Dawn Staleypredicted on Saturday that, in the coming years, Strong could become the best Huskies player. Which is a lot to say considering that UConn has former players like Stewart, Diana Tauurasi, Swin Cash and two of the most recent members of the NaíSmith Hall of Fame, Maya Moore and Sue Birdwho were honored in Sunday’s game.

Uconn, who arrived on Sunday with an average of 8.7 triples per game, only scored one in the first half, but that shot -of Ashlynn Shade From the left corner to nine seconds of the fine-he gave the huskies impulse when he reached the break with an advantage of 36-26.

The Huskies continued to control the game during the second half. Uconn now has a 91-2 record when he reaches the break with a two-digit advantage in the NCAA tournament. The two losses were in the 2001 national semifinal (winning 12 points to rest), when they lost against the eventual champion Notre Dameand in the first round of 1989 (winning 10 points) against La Salle.

Auremma trained in her first NCAA tournament in 1989, in her fourth season in Uconn. The Huskies have participated in 36 NCAA and 24 Final Fours tournaments. Auriemma, who turned 71 in March, is the first coach to win a championship at 70 years or more in female or male basketball of Division I.

He joked before the game saying that he had thought about retiring several times during the season in recent years, but then he was going to train and always participated again.

“I think many people count on me to continue doing what I do in Uconn: all my team, all my staff,” said Auriemma. “I think they tell with me to move on, keep impacting and continue doing what we do.”

David Mitchell
David Mitchell

As a passionate sports journalist with over a decade of experience, I strive to uncover the heart and soul behind every game. Supported by a dedicated team of fellow enthusiasts and storytellers, I am committed to delivering insightful and engaging content that connects fans worldwide. Together, we celebrate the victories, challenges, and unifying spirit of sports through every article we craft.