Paige Bueckers ends UConn career with national championship as Huskies rout South Carolina

UConn's women's hoops programme is close wherever it belongs - connected the mountaintop.

The Huskies earned their 12th nationalist championship, each of which person travel since 1995, with a blowout of reigning champion South Carolina connected Sunday afternoon.

In her last crippled earlier heading to the WNBA, Paige Bueckers enactment up 17 points successful UConn's 82-59 triumph implicit the Gamecocks.

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Connecticut Huskies defender Paige Bueckers (5) reacts during the archetypal fractional against the South Carolina Gamecocks of the nationalist title of the women's 2025 NCAA tourney astatine Amalie Arena.  (Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)

The Huskies led by 10 astatine the half, arsenic South Carolina struggled from the level - they had conscionable 26 points successful the archetypal 20 minutes.

But Azzi Fudd began to enactment the nail successful the coffin successful the 3rd quarter, dropping 11 of her 24 points successful the frame. Despite it being South Carolina's highest-scoring 4th up to that point, it was besides easy UConn's, who outscored the Gamecocks, 26-16, to instrumentality a commanding 20-point pb heading into the fourth.

The Huskies kept their ft connected the pedal, though, getting retired connected a 18-6 tally to unfastened up the quarter, efficaciously icing the shot game. After that, South Carolina took their starters out, albeit to a large hand.

Bueckers and Fudd, on with the starters, came retired with 1:32 to go, and an affectional Bueckers shared a agelong clasp with caput manager Geno Auriemma. Bueckers made each Final Four of her vocation but ne'er reached the apical until Sunday.

Connecticut Huskies defender Paige Bueckers (5) looks to sprout the shot against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the archetypal fractional during the nationalist title of the women's 2025 NCAA tourney astatine Amalie Arena. (Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)

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It was a shooting show South Carolina would similar to hide - earlier knocking 2 of their last three, they deed conscionable 2-for-13 from three. UConn, however, changeable 48.4% from the floor.

Bueckers is apt to beryllium the archetypal wide prime successful the WNBA Draft adjacent week. She adjacent missed a play with a torn ACL she suffered backmost successful 2022, but she volition inactive spell down arsenic 1 of UConn's greatest, which is already immortal institution to statesman with.

Bueckers' 19.9 points per crippled is the largest successful UConn history, and she besides had the third-most points successful women's March Madness past passim a career.

UConn halfway Jana El Alfy (8) and UConn defender Paige Bueckers (5) respond during the archetypal fractional of a nationalist semifinal Final Four crippled against UCLA during the women's NCAA assemblage hoops tournament, Friday, April 4, 2025, successful Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

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It's really been 9 years since UConn's past title, which is their longest drought since winning their backmost 30 years ago. They antecedently had ne'er gone much than 5 years without winning it each (from 2004 to 2009).

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