UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers, shown March 6, had 27 points on 10 of 15 shooting against N.C. State. Photo courtesy of Meg Kelly/UConn Athletics
March 28 (UPI) — The second-seeded UConn Huskies beat the No. 1 seed N.C. State Wolfpack 91-87 in a double-overtime thriller Monday night in the Bridgeport regional final. With the victory, the Huskies extended their streak of consecutive women’s Final Four appearances to 14. UConn will play No. 1 seed Stanford on Friday.
The Wolfpack, meanwhile, fell short of making their first Final Four since 1998.
UConn star guard Paige Bueckers, who sat out 19 games earlier this season because of a knee injury, returned to her old form with 27 points on 10 of 15 shooting against the Wolfpack. She also had six rebounds and one block.
Senior guard Christyn Williams finished with 21 points and five rebounds for UConn, while freshman guard Azzi Fudd ended with 19 points. Aaliyah Edwards added 10 points and six boards.
Junior forward Jakia Brown-Turner led the Wolfpack with 20 points on 6 of 14 shooting from the field. Elissa Cunane notched 18 points and nine rebounds, and junior forward Jada Boyd had 14 points off the bench. Kai Crutchfield and Kayla Jones each scored 12.
The Huskies led for much of regulation and by as many as 10 points in the second quarter before N.C. State surged in the third and fourth quarters. At the 9:28 mark in the final frame, the Wolfpack retook the lead for the first time since the first basket of the game.
To conclude the back-and-forth final quarter, UConn senior Olivia Nelson-Ododa failed to convert the go-ahead free throws with just under 30 seconds remaining. Crutchfield’s potential game-winning 3-pointer then fell short at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.
The Huskies led by three with less than 10 seconds left in the first overtime when Brown-Turner’s corner 3-pointer extended the game another five minutes.
UConn then outscored N.C. State 14-10 in the second overtime period, with Williams’ layup with less than 10 seconds left sealing the win. The matchup featured 18 ties and 26 lead changes.
