The girls needed a captain, someone to lead them in ways a coach cannot. Throughout the tournament, Paige gave this team that kind of leadership. UConn once again re-established itself as the leader in women’s basketball. The Huskies, behind Azzi Fudd with 24 points, defeated South Carolina 82-59 to claim the national title for the 12th time. Sarah Strong wasn’t behind in contributing to the team’s win with 24 points and 15 rebounds, while Paige Bueckers added 17 points.
Bueckers capped off her glittering individual career by leading the Huskies to that school’s first national title since 2016, breaking a nine-year championship drought. This was the biggest one for coach Geno Auriemma’s team next to their first-ever accolade collection in 1995 under Rebecca Lobo.
During good years, it really was one of a number of successful championship runs – early 2000s with a couple of stars on the team, that being Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi. To this was added the 2009-10 edition with Maya Moore. And then four straight from 2013-16 with Breanna Stewart. All these legends made it to Florida on Sunday to witness the latest triumph of the Huskies.
After an injury-plagued atmospheric year, she is fighting back entirely and is to be viewed as the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft on April 14. Bueckers was of great concern in this title run. But this title was the last piece in her fairytale saga with UConn, which was a fairytale except for injuries. The first female AP Player of the Year, she suffered much along the way, from a tibial plateau fracture and meniscus tear that took her out for most of her sophomore season to the dreaded ACL tear before her next season.
Strong and Fudd back-to-back threes to open the floodgates. Auriemma pulled Bueckers, Fudd, and Strong off the floor with 1:32 left in the game, sharing a tearful embrace with Bueckers on the sideline celebrating the championship.
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