Red shirt senior Paige Bueckers returned to the starting lineup on Wednesday night for the UConn Huskies after a two-game hiatus from a right knee sprain.
Right out of the gates, Bueckers and the No. 6 UConn Women’s Basketball team came to play and took the dub home from Queens, N.Y. 71-45 against the St. John’s Red Storm.
Having played eight minutes in the first quarter, Bueckers notched six points and one rebound, but it was not just the Minnesota native that stepped up to set the tone for the Huskies.
Rather, it was a team effort for Connecticut, especially on the defensive side of things.
“We have a lot of people who can handle the ball on the team and make plays.” Bueckers said to the media post game on how she’s been straying away from being the primary ball handler.
Due to the size difference and St. John’s not having a starter above five-foot-six besides their star shooter Kylie Lavelle, the Huskies used their height to their advantage. To close out the first quarter, the Huskies scored 11 points off of seven turnovers from St. John’s which is one of the best defensive teams in the Big East.
One of the players who was the focal point of the team’s offense for the Huskies was graduate guard Azzi Fudd who has been one of the star players for the program as of late. She attained 13 points on the night and was 6-11 from the field.
“It’s been great, it’ll do strides for our team in terms of her being aggressive…we’ll be a much better team if she continues to play this way.” Bueckers said on the Virginia native.
However, during the second quarter was when the Huskies started to lose some of the steam they had found previously in the first frame.
Connecticut found themselves in a scoring drought in the last five minutes of the second frame. Due to this, the Red Storm took advantage as they started to chip away at their scoring deficit. Despite a jumper from Phoenix Gedeon, the Huskies would lead 36-21 at the end of the first half.
“I thought offensively we struggled to counteract some of the pressure, we hadn’t turned it over there, most of the years.” Head coach of the Red Storm, Joe Tartamella said to the media on what he thought of the Huskies pressure on both sides of the ball.
After heading back to the locker room to regroup, the Huskies came out for the second half locked and loaded. Although the Red Storm scored back-to-back layups to kick off the third quarter, the Huskies held them to make zero field goals for five minutes and in the waning moments Auriemma utilized his three freshmen out on the court to close out third frame.
With another brief scoring drought in the final quarter, the Huskies came out with the dub, scoring 17 points, propelling them to stay undefeated in conference play.
Everyone was able to contribute to the program’s win, including red shirt freshman Jana El Alfy chalked up eight points on the night and six rebounds, despite freshman Sarah Strong only notching six points. The North Carolina native helped behind the scenes racking up four assists.
“We have a lot of people who can handle the ball on the team and make plays.” Bueckers said of her teammates and their ability to maintain their teamwork and composure to add this game to the win column.
With so much talent and youth on the team, Auriemma expects his team to develop more as time goes on, especially with players like Strong and El Alfy.
“That’s it, we’re building towards March. So, one game at a time.” Auriemma said to the media personnel when asked about how he thinks his players will evolve as time goes on.
Next up the Huskies will return to Gampel Pavilion after a more than a month hiatus to take on the 4-1 in conference play, Seton Hall Pirates. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. from the Basketball Capital of the World. If Husky fans cannot make it to Storrs, they can tune in on SNY.