Paige Bueckers scored 31 points and No. 2 seed UConn held off short-handed No. 1 seed Southern California 78-64 on Monday to win the Spokane (Wash.) Region 4 and advance to its 24th Final Four.
The Huskies (35-3) took the lead on a 9-0 run in the first quarter and never looked back, remaining in front of USC the rest of the way.
The Trojans (31-4), playing without injured national Player of the Year candidate JuJu Watkins, threatened at different times throughout the contest. Rayah Marshall stepped up in Watkins’ absence to score 23 points and grab 15 rebounds.
Freshman Sarah Strong hit 4 of 6 from 3-point range en route to 22 points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds for UConn, which advances to face UCLA in the Final Four on Friday in Tampa.
The Huskies’ Kaitlyn Chen added 15 points, six in the fourth quarter. Azzi Fudd emerged after a slow start to play a huge role down the stretch, scoring all eight of her points in the final period.
USC’s Talia von Oelhoffen scored all 10 of her points in the second half, and Kiki Iriafen also had 10 points on 3-of-15 shooting. The Trojans could not overcome 32.8 percent shooting from the floor — or UConn’s timely responses to Trojans runs.
Fudd missed her first nine field-goal attempts, but she broke through at an opportune time.
USC went on a 21-7 run in the third quarter to cut a 19-point deficit down to five entering the final period. However, Fudd opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer, and she made another trey to cap an 11-2 run that put the Huskies up 62-48 with 6:54 to go.
UConn pushed the lead back to 15 points in the fourth quarter on the way to the win.
Bueckers passed Napheesa Collier to become the third-leading scorer in UConn history. Monday was the third straight game in which Bueckers logged 31-plus points. She also dished six assists against the Trojans.
USC’s Avery Howell, who scored nine points, shot 2-for-5 from 3-point distance. The rest of the Trojans went a combined 1-for-8 from beyond the arc.
–Field Level Media
