OMAHA, Neb. — The UConn women’s basketball team took sole control of first place in the Big East with a 72-61 victory over Creighton on Saturday at CHI Health Center, maintaining their undefeated start and snapping the Bluejays’s nine-game conference win streak.
The No. 6 Huskies were once again led by the star duo of redshirt senior Paige Bueckers and freshman Sarah Strong, who each scored 20-plus points for the second straight game and just the fourth time this season. Strong logged 26 points plus 12 rebounds for the fifth double-double of her young career, and the freshman also led the Huskies with five steals and four blocks. Bueckers added 22 points shooting 9-for-20 from the field with three 3-pointers, adding five rebounds and four assists.
UConn had plenty of opportunities early against the Bluejays but struggled to finish, starting 0-for-5 from 3-point range. Creighton effectively shut down Bueckers offensively holding her to just two field goal attempts without any points and just one assist, and Strong was the only Huskies player to hit more than one shot from the floor in the quarter. The freshman phenom scored a game-high eight points in the first, but the Bluejays’ balanced attack kept them right on UConn’s heels with six different scorers in the quarter.
The game quickly became a defensive battle with both teams struggling to make shots, and both finished the first quarter on a nearly three-minute scoring drought. The Huskies, who entered the matchup averaging 51.8% from the field, shot just 33.3% in the first quarter, but Creighton also had difficulty from beyond the arc starting 1-for-5 despite multiple open looks as UConn settled into its defensive rotations.
The Huskies began to pull away after sophomore KK Arnold ended the 3-point drought with the team’s first make early in the second quarter. Bueckers followed it up with her first points of the game on a 3-pointer, opening up what was then the team’s biggest lead of the game.
UConn never slowed down after that, leading 33-19 at halftime behind 16 points and seven rebounds from Strong. The freshman accounted for nearly half of the Huskies’ points and six of their 13 made field goals. Graduate transfer Kaitlyn Chen also had a strong second quarter, entering halftime as UConn’s second-highest scorer with 6 points shooting 3-for-8. The Huskies’ disruptive defense was essential in opening up the lead forcing 10 turnovers against Creighton in the second quarter after creating just two in the first.
The Bluejays came out with renewed energy going on a 7-0 run in the opening two minutes of the third quarter, but Bueckers found her offense quickly to put UConn back in control. The superstar scored seven straight points after Creighton’s run, more than doubling her total from the first half, and she was shooting 50% from the field by the end of the quarter after starting 1-for-4.
The Huskies had their best offensive performance in the third with 23 points, but it was also their weakest defensive quarter giving up 19 points to the Bluejays after holding them to just six in the second. UConn’s starters all logged fourth-quarter minutes, and Bueckers played more than 30 for the first time since the team’s two-point loss to No. 4 USC on Dec. 21.
Creighton mounted a late charge cutting UConn’s lead to as little as 11 points after trailing by as many as 20, but Bueckers led the Huskies down the stretch scoring seven four-quarter points including the team’s lone 3-pointer. She and Strong logged 13 of UConn’s 16 fourth quarter points. Creighton was led by 14 points apiece from seniors Molly Mogensen and Morgan Maly, but leading scorer Lauren Jensen was held to just 11 despite averaging more than 17 points per game, and Mogensen fouled out early in the fourth quarter.
