The University of Connecticut women’s basketball team (34-3) trailed Oklahoma (27-8) by four points at the end of the second quarter, having shot under 30% from the field in the first 20 minutes and turning the ball over nine times in defensive rock fight with the Sooners.
Paige Bueckers then 29 second half points on 12/16 shooting, aiding in the offensive avalanche for the Huskies, who outscored Oklahoma by 37 points across the final two quarters to cruise to an 82-59 victory on Saturday evening.
“Paige was spectacular,” said head coach Geno Auriemma post-game. “That was as good as a game as I’ve seen her play the whole time she’s been here.”
Auriemma wasn’t wrong. Bueckers set a career-high in points (40) that was aided by a 6/8 effort from downtown versus the Sooners. The fifth-year senior – who declared for the WNBA Draft two days ago – became the first UConn player since Katie Lou Samuelson in 2017 to score 40 points in a game.
Bueckers scored the team’s first 19 points of the final period, shooting 8/9 from the field and ¾ from deep — the rest of the team combined for one basket in the final 10 minutes.
“I think we’re never really surprised when she gets on heaters like that,” said Ashlynn Shade post-game. “I think that every shot Paige shoots is going in.”
It just about felt like that in the third and fourth periods. Bueckers outscored the Oklahoma team by herself in the second half (29-23) as the Huskies move on to Monday night’s Elite 8 game in Spokane Arena.
“It was a really interesting game, the way it played out,” said Auriemma. “It felt like we couldn’t get anything to go our way in that first half, and I think that the harder we tried to make a shot the less shots we made.”
Connecticut’s first two possessions were not a harbinger of its second half dominance but rather an ugly, teeth-grinding sign of its first half struggles.
Azzi Fudd popped an elbow jumper off the back rim before Oklahoma’s Sahara Williams muscled down an offensive rebound on the other end, putting it back to notch the game’s first basket for the Sooners.
Kaitlyn Chen then pivoted into a travel, Raegan Beers hit on a three pointer and Reyna Scott banked in an and-one opportunity to give Oklahoma a swift 8-0 lead to open the first period.
The Huskies engineered a look for Bueckers on the ensuing possession, who hit on a contested three over Beers to get UConn on the board offensively.
Connecticut’s backcourt duo contributed to the team’s first nine, with Fudd and Bueckers finding open looks from under the basket and from the charity stripe to put UConn up 9-8 at the first media break.
Both teams struggled from the field to open the game, with Connecticut and Oklahoma combining for just six makes on 20 attempts.
Bueckers hit on two elbow jumpers right out of the timeout to give the Huskies a six-point cushion with a little over three minutes remaining in the period. Beers went over Sarah Strong in the low post to bring it back within four, and KK Arnold split a pair at the line to end the first quarter scoring at 17-12 in favor of Connecticut.
The Sooners opened the second quarter on a 7-2 run, tearing the Husky lead down to one before Fudd drained her only three pointer of the day on a catch-and-shoot triple off an Ice Brady screen. Fudd finished with 10 points on 4/13 shooting, dishing five assists in the win.
Williams found the rim on a lay-in, catalyzing a 10-0 Oklahoma run that spanned until the second quarter media break.
Senior forward Payton Verhulst (the team’s leading scorer on the day) scored eight consecutive points, starting with a three pointer from the logo to put the Sooners in front. Oklahoma hit on seven straight field goals as a team to take a four point lead – which it held going into the halftime locker rooms.
Connecticut had shot 29.7% from the field, turned the ball over nine times, hit on just four three pointers and was brutalized in the paint across the first 20 minutes of basketball, yet was only down four at the break.
One of the dealbreakers when playing Oklahoma, rebounding, tilted ever-so-slightly in the Huskies’ favor (23-21). The Sooners had notched a dominant 23 wins this season when winning on the glass, fueled by its gnarly frontcourt of Beers and Skylar Vann.
UConn won the battle on the boards 43-41, recorded nine offensive rebounds and 15 second chance points in the win over the Sooners.
Connecticut plowed through the third quarter, hitting on 57.1% of its shots and going on runs of 16-0 and 7-2, respectively, to belly-up the Sooners and take a 13-point lead into the final period.
Bueckers, Fudd, Strong and Shade combined for 19 points in the third period alone, erasing the four-point deficit in an offensive onslaught for the Huskies.
The Huskies never surrendered the lead after Bueckers hit on a triple midway through the third, taking its lead to the buzzer in an 82-59 win over Oklahoma.
The Huskies will meet No. 1 Southern California in a rematch on Monday at 9 p.m., as the Trojans knocked off No. 5 Kansas State in the second game in Spokane Arena on Saturday night 67-61.
The game will be broadcasted on ESPN, with coverage starting at 8 p.m.