Alexa Philippou, ESPNApr 1, 2024, 11:54 PM ETCloseCovers ladies’s faculty basketball and the WNBA
Previously lined UConn and the WNBA Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant
Stanford graduate and Baltimore native with additional expertise on the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati EnquirerPORTLAND, Ore. – Back within the fall when UConn misplaced a number of key gamers to season-ending accidents and struggled early in nonconference play, coach Geno Auriemma although it might’ve been a “miracle” for his group to make a deep March run.Even as a slew of accidents hampered the Huskies, now for the third-straight marketing campaign, they nonetheless had one piece who may transcend all else: Paige Bueckers.In her first season back from an ACL tear that sidelined her all of final yr, Bueckers scored a game-high 28 factors to go alongside with 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and a couple of blocks to ship UConn to its twenty third Final Four look and fifteenth within the final 16 NCAA tournaments with a 80-73 victory Monday over 1-seed USC within the Portland regional ultimate.2024 Paige Bueckers32024 Caitlin Clark32023 Caitlin Clark32011 Courtney Vandersloot3The 11-time national champion Huskies aren’t used to being the underdogs. But with six gamers out for the yr due to accidents and 5 losses in nonconference play, many counted them out for a spot in Cleveland as they went into the NCAA event as a 3-seed.That assumption would prove to be misguided, as Bueckers, Aaliyah Edwards, Nika Muhl and their freshmen core have secured a spot within the national semifinal game, the place they face the 1-seed Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday.Bueckers, the 2021 national participant of the yr, scored 9 factors within the ultimate 5:06 of the game to thrust back a USC comeback try. She’s scored 20-plus factors in seven consecutive video games, the most important streak of her profession.USC ends its season with its deepest event run since 1994, the place the Trojans additionally misplaced within the Elite Eight, however with its future extremely vibrant with presumptive freshman of the yr JuJu Watkins main the best way.