Graduate guard Paige Bueckers surpassed Diana Taurasi for ninth place on UConn women’s basketball’s all-time scoring list in the program’s 91-49 win over the Seton Hall Pirates Wednesday night.
In total, the Minnesota native notched a total of 23 points, nine rebounds and two steals on the night, despite a shaky start to the first half from her squad.
Last Sunday the No. 5 ranked squad broke the No. 6 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks 71-game home winning streak, beating them by 29 points. Husky fans hoped that the momentum would carry the program into the matchup against the Pirates. However, this was not the case for the Huskies as soon as both squads tipped off.
With Seton Hall scoring the first two baskets of the game, the Huskies did not have the lead in the game until three minutes into the first quarter.
However, sophomore guard Ashlynn Shade was the spark the Huskies needed. When the Indiana native checked into the game for Jana El Alfy, the Huskies went on a minute-and-a-half scoring spurt.
Shade, despite racking up three personal fouls, the guard finished the night with 15 points.
With the end of the first quarter score being 22-15, Bueckers led her squad by five points and the Huskies started to pull away with the score leaning in their favor.
At the start of the second frame, the Huskies started to struggle to gain momentum again, with both squads trading baskets back and forth. Even with a quarter and-a-half under their belt, the Huskies had notched seven turnovers, despite the 10 they had notched the entire game versus the Gamecocks.
“No momentum carried over into this game. No momentum at all,” head coach of the program Geno Auriemma said to Chelsea Sherrod of SNY postgame. “We go down there and get a great win, and they think that win is going to make these guys roll over… This is nonsense.”
Coming out of the locker room, the Huskies regrouped and would not go down without a fight, with every player from the roster contributing.
During the third frame the Huskies went on a 20-3 run, outscoring the Pirates 30-13.
Faith Masonius, the Pirates’ leading scorer, notched a total of five points in the third frame, but the second half was all Huskies, as history from the first time these squads faced one another in January repeated itself.
In the fourth quarter, the squad fully regrouped and every player contributed. At the end of the game, the Huskies managed to outscore the Pirates 50-23 in the last half.
In addition to Bueckers’ heroics, Auriemma used his small ball lineup with Aubrey Griffin by the boards.
Griffin, who has fought her way back into the swing of things after injury, notched 15 points in 18 minutes played, scoring 5-5 from the field, tying Shade for the second spot in points scored for the Huskies.
The funny thing? The last time Griffin played at the Walsh Gymnasium notched her first career double-double with 25 points and 12 assists in December of 2019.
“She [Aubrey] loves playing here. I think this is her favorite place to play,” Auriemma said to SNY postgame.
The New York native has been feisty and consistent for the Huskies at the five, with Ice Brady out with injury. The 6-foot-1 forward will be integral for the Huskies as the season winds down.
With just three games left in the regular season for the Huskies, this comeback was imperative for the squad to maintain their confidence heading into the end of the season and eventually March.
“We got a little bit better. We look a little better connected in the second half,” Auriemma said to SNY postgame. “We just got sloppy today with our ball-handling, some decision-making, but I thought the second half we did a much better job than the second half.”
Next up, the Huskies will travel to Indianapolis, Ind. to take on the Butler Bulldogs on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. and Husky fans can tune into the matchup on SNY and listen in on the UConn Sports Network from Learfield.