Dominant UConn wins, secures 12th national title

TAMPA, Fla. -- It's been a nine-year hold for UConn to get its 12th nationalist championship. But successful a batch of ways, it came astatine precisely the close time.

The No. 2 effect Huskies finished their tally done 3 No. 1 seeds -- USC, UCLA and 82-59 vs. South Carolina successful the NCAA last Sunday - with a rubric that possibly means a small much due to the fact that of the travel the programme and its elder prima Paige Bueckers has been connected to get it.

After winning 4 championships successful a enactment from 2013 to 2016 down superstar Breanna Stewart, the Huskies deed a bid of roadblocks with pugnacious losses and wounded heartbreaks.

But Sunday, the Huskies moved to the apical of the women's hoops satellite again, sending Bueckers -- who is expected to beryllium the WNBA's No. 1 draught prime connected April 14 -- retired with her archetypal nationalist championship.

A tearful Bueckers buried her look successful manager Geno Auriemma's enarthrosis arsenic they hugged connected the sideline erstwhile she exited the crippled with conscionable implicit a infinitesimal left, ngo astatine past accomplished.

With guards Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, who missed astir of past play with a genu injury, steadfast astatine the aforesaid time, and the apical freshman successful the federation successful guardant Sarah Strong, UConn looked similar truthful galore of its title teams of old. Not conscionable the champion team, but the squad that besides played the best.

Fudd and Strong some finished with 24 points, and Bueckers had 17. Freshman Joyce Edwards and sophomore Tessa Johnson led South Carolina with 10 points each arsenic the Gamecocks fell abbreviated of repeating arsenic nationalist champions and finished 35-4.

UConn present has 12 wins successful the Final Four by 20 oregon much points. All different teams successful D-I women's past person 11 specified wins.

Bueckers was asked earlier Sunday's crippled however she would similar to beryllium remembered astatine UConn.

"As a large teammate, a large leader. I deliberation those are the 2 astir important things to me, conscionable being idiosyncratic that radical emotion to play with, marque their teammates better, wears a UConn jersey with pride," she said.

Now, she besides volition beryllium remembered arsenic a nationalist champion. Admittedly, determination were points successful her vocation wherever it didn't look that would happen. UConn's disappointments spell back, successful fact, to the extremity of their 111-game winning streak astatine the Final Four successful Dallas successful 2017. The Huskies were defeated connected a buzzer-beater successful overtime successful the nationalist semifinals by Mississippi State.

Then successful 2018, '19, '21 and '24, the Huskies besides mislaid successful the nationalist semifinals. They fell successful the 2022 nationalist title crippled to South Carolina, and missed the 2023 Final Four - the lone clip since an Elite Eight nonaccomplishment successful 2007 that the Huskies person not made the season's last weekend. Bueckers missed the 2022-2023 play with a genu injury.

With Fudd retired past season, the Huskies went down to the ligament with Iowa successful the nationalist semifinals, but mislaid 71-69. That acceptable up a batch of unit connected Bueckers and the Huskies to marque their dreams travel existent this year.

UConn wasn't cleanable this play arsenic has been the lawsuit with six erstwhile UConn title teams. But aft an 80-76 nonaccomplishment astatine Tennessee of Feb. 6, the Huskies didn't suffer different game. They won the Big East regular-season and tourney titles, past dominated their mode done the NCAA tournament, finishing 37-3.

Sunday, the Huskies took a 19-14 pb aft a archetypal 4th that had a precise accelerated gait and immoderate aggravated defence wrong from UConn. The Huskies acceptable the code by shooting 52.9% from the tract successful the opening period, portion holding the Gamecocks to 40%. Unlike UCLA successful its semifinal nonaccomplishment to UConn, South Carolina was moving the shot into the spots it wanted, but didn't decorativeness well.

Strong's emphatic artifact of a Raven Johnson layup effort astatine 9:04 people of the 2nd 4th sent a message, arsenic did her play passim her archetypal postseason.

Strong acceptable an NCAA tourney grounds for points by a freshman successful a azygous tourney with 114. She passed Tennessee's Tamika Catchings, who had 111 successful 1998. That year, incidentally, Strong's mother, Allison Feaster, led Harvard arsenic a No. 16 effect past No. 1 Stanford successful the NCAA tournament. Feaster went connected to a 10-season vocation successful the WNBA, wherever her girl volition beryllium headed successful a fewer years.

Strong is besides the archetypal player, careless of class, to person astatine slightest 100 points, 25 assists and10 blocks successful a azygous NCAA tourney since blocks became an authoritative stat successful 1988.

South Carolina manager Dawn Staley predicted connected Saturday that implicit the adjacent fewer years, Strong mightiness extremity up arsenic the champion Huskies subordinate of all. Which is saying a ton considering erstwhile UConn players similar Stewart, Diana Taurasi, Swin Cash and 2 of the astir caller Naismith Hall of Fame inductees, Maya Moore and Sue Bird, who were honored astatine Sunday's game.

UConn, which entered Sunday averaging 8.7 3-pointers per game, had conscionable 1 successful the archetypal half, but helped the Huskies' summation their momentum going into halftime. Ashlynn Shade deed from the near country with 9 seconds near successful the 2nd quarter, sending the Huskies into the locker country up 36-26.

The Huskies continued to power the crippled passim the 2nd half. UConn is present 91-2 erstwhile starring by treble digits astatine halftime successful the NCAA Tournament all-time. The 2 losses were 2001 nationalist semifinal (up 12 astatine half) erstwhile it mislaid to eventual champion Notre Dame and successful the 1989 archetypal circular (up 10 astatine half) against La Salle.

Auriemma was coaching successful his archetypal NCAA tourney successful 1989, successful his 4th play astatine UConn. The Huskies person present appeared successful 36 NCAA tournaments and 24 Final Fours. Auriemma, who turned 71 successful March, is the archetypal manager to triumph a title astatine property 70 oregon older successful Division I women's oregon men's basketball.

He joked earlier the crippled that helium thought astir quitting aggregate times during the play the past fewer years, but past would spell to signifier and ever beryllium drawn backmost in.

"I deliberation there's a batch of radical counting connected maine to support doing what I'm doing astatine UConn -- each my team, each my staff," Auriemma said. "I deliberation they're counting connected maine to support going and support impacting and support doing what we do."