Paige Bueckers and her UConn teammates didn’t cut down the net after securing a trip to the Final Four, even though a ladder was set up and ready to go. The reason was simple: The Huskies aren’t done yet.
Bueckers carried UConn to their record 24th national semi-final in the women’s NCAA Tournament, scoring 31 points on Monday night in a 78-64 victory over Southern California, which couldn’t overcome the loss of injured star JuJu Watkins.
UConn head to Tampa, Florida, to face overall No 1 seed UCLA on Friday. The other semi-final will be between an All-SEC showdown between defending champions South Carolina and Texas.
Freshman Sarah Strong added 22 points and 17 rebounds for the second-seeded Huskies, who have won a record 11 NCAA titles, all under coach Geno Auriemma. Their most recent championship was in 2016, the last of a run of four straight.
“We’ve got a whole lot of heart, and a whole lot of toughness about us. And we play together as a team. We’re super well-connected,” Bueckers said. “I feel like every team that I’ve played on, we’ve been super well-connected. But just the way we’ve been through so much adversity as individuals, as a team, how much it’s brought us together, how much it’s made us stronger.”
Rayah Marshall scored 23 points and 15 rebounds for top-seeded USC (31-4), who also lost to UConn in the Elite Eight last year when Watkins was a freshman.
Fans had anticipated a rematch between Bueckers and Watkins when the brackets were announced, but the matchup lost some luster when Trojans’ star guard tore an ACL in the second round and needed surgery. While the Trojans got past Kansas State in the Sweet 16 without Watkins, they had a tougher challenge against UConn and Bueckers, the likely No 1 overall pick in next month’s WNBA draft.
After scoring just two points in the opening quarter, Bueckers had 11 points in the final period.
“None of it would happen without the team, and everything that goes into a performance,” she said. “So just trying to lead with what the game is calling for, lead with what we need at that moment, at that time, whether it’s passing, rebounding, scoring, just trying to do whatever it takes to win.”
Bueckers, a senior, earned AP All-America honors and was the Big East player of the year for the third time. The only thing left for her to achieve is a national title after she and the Huskies were beaten in the Final Four last year by Caitlin Clark and Iowa. She has averaged 35 points in her last three March Madness games, including career highs of 40 points and six three-pointers in the Huskies’ 82-59 rout of Oklahoma in the Sweet 16.
In Monday’s other game, Madison Booker scored 18 points and No 1 seed Texas used their stifling defense to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2003, beating well-traveled point guard Hailey Van Lith and second-seeded TCU 58-47. Texas won a regional final for the first time under coach Vic Schaefer, who previously made two Final Four trips with Mississippi State. The Longhorns’ 35 wins are one more than their only national title-winning squad had in 1986 under Jody Conradt, who was in the stands on Monday night.
The Final Four is on Friday night, with the championship game at 3pm ET on Sunday. A year ago, the women’s title game drew a bigger television audience than the men’s for the first time, with an average of 18.9 million viewers watching undefeated South Carolina beat Iowa and Clark.