TAMPA, Fla. — Against the toughest competition in the national semifinal, the UConn women’s basketball team played one of its best games of the season Friday in Tampa, Fla.
Final score: UConn 85, UCLA 51.
It is the first Final Four game in the history of women’s college basketball to be decided by 30 points or more. Not even the great UConn teams with Diana Taurasi or Breanna Stewart accomplished that feat.
Appearing in their 24th Final Four, the Huskies left little doubt as to the result of this game from the opening tip onward. UConn led 23-13 after the first quarter and 42-22 at halftime.
UCLA, the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, played its first Final Four game in the modern era and had a difficult time keeping up with the speed of the two-seeded Huskies. In the first half, it was all Azzi Fudd. The UConn guard scored 19 points before the intermission.
UConn First-Team All-American guard Paige Bueckers, coming off three consecutive games of scoring at least 31 points, had a quiet night by her standards but was still dynamic when called upon. Due to the lopsided score, Bueckers was able to rest the final five minutes. She finished the game with 16 points.
In an interview with ESPN following the game, Bueckers praised Fudd for her performance, noting that it has been a long journey for the sharpshooter to get healthy and return to the Final Four.
“It’s rewarding. It’s so much fun to watch her play with joy, be at this stage. You see all the ups and downs, the bad days and good days. To be in a spot where it’s a light at the end of the tunnel and for her to perform on this stage, it means everything to us,” Bueckers said.
Second Team All-American forward Sarah Strong, a UConn freshman, led the team in scoring against UCLA with 22 points. Strong scored from the inside and out and knocked down four of her six three-point attempts in the game.
For UCLA, First Team All-American center Lauren Betts had another solid performance, scoring a game-high 26 points, but it wasn’t nearly enough. No other Bruin scored more than eight points against UConn on Friday.
After the game, UConn coach Geno Auriemma said that the game plan was to let Betts score freely in one-on-one coverage while cementing the defense on the Bruins’ other four players on the floor. He called Betts a “singular force in college basketball” and noted that the Huskies entered the game thinking, “Whatever she gets, she gets.”
It was a similar strategy to that used by UConn men’s coach Dan Hurley against Purdue and Zach Edey in the 2024 national championship game.
While Buecekers didn’t guard Betts, she witnessed firsthand the defensive effort given by her teammates, especially freshman center Jana El Alfy. In the postgame interview, Bueckers commended their tenacity in the paint and ability to limit passes to Betts by denying the ball.
Sign up for the FOX61 newsletters: Morning Forecast, Morning Headlines, Evening Headlines
“[Betts is] the best post player in the country. She draws so much attention. She’s very physical. She gets to her spot. They just did a tremendous job on here. They’ve been working so hard in practice,” Bueckers said. “Our practice players have been doing a great job of being Lauren Betts. You can’t be her, but you can try your best to try to be like her. They just did a wonderful job in the paint.”
Up next is the national championship game on Sunday at 3 p.m. on ABC. UConn faces South Carolina in a rematch of several different national championship games, which have gone both ways.
South Carolina, a one-seed, defeated Texas, another one-seed, 74-57 on Friday in Amalie Arena. The Gamecocks and Huskies played earlier this season in Columbia, S.C. on Feb. 16. UConn left with a surprising, resounding 87-58 victory, snapping South Carolina’s 71-game home winning streak.
UConn is the favorite to win on Sunday and is 11-1 all-time in national title games, but the one loss was to South Carolina in 2022, which Bueckers remembers well. She isn’t looking at the past as she prepares for the Gamecocks this time around.
“At this point, anything you did prior in the season means nothing,” Bueckers said. “The record is 0-0, and the teams are trying to go 1-0 in the final game. We have to keep up the defensive intensity like we did tonight. They’re a really good team. They get out in transition with great interior play and great guard play. We’ll have our hands full.”
Bueckers added that it’s key not to try to win the whole game in one possession, while making each possession the most important one in that moment. She hopes the Huskies play that way for the entire 40 minutes on Sunday.
Auriemma will look to stop South Carolina coach Dawn Staley from winning her third national championship in four years. He knows it will be battle.
“I think South Carolina is a fantastic, tremendous team with a lot of experience and guys that won a national championship last year,” Auriemma said. “I’m just happy to be playing in that game. I think we’ll have some confidence, but they’ll have a chip on their shoulder. It should make for a tremendous game.”
It’s UConn and South Carolina at 3 p.m. Sunday in what could be a duel for the ages.
RELATED: Connecticut governor proclaims ‘Huskies Weekend’ to honor UConn women’s basketball team
RELATED: Paige Bueckers wins 2025 Wade Trophy as NCAA Player of the Year
—-
Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
—-
Do you have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com.
—-
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET FOX61 NEWS
Download the FOX61 News APP
iTunes: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching FOX61.
Steam Live on FIRE TV: Search ‘FOX61’ and click ‘Get’ to download.
FOLLOW US ON X, FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM