UNCASVILLE — The UConn women’s basketball team entered Big East Tournament semifinal against Marquette on Sunday with only seven healthy players after Aaliyah Edwards suffered a nose injury in the quarterfinal Saturday.
But UConn, more accustomed to navigating injuries than perhaps any team in the country, didn’t miss a beat moving to a six-man rotation. The 1-seed Huskies toppled 5-seed Marquette 58-29 at Mohegan Sun Arena, advancing to the Big East championship game Monday for the fourth year in a row.
Paige Bueckers didn’t flinch when she lined up to take the tip off against All-Big East center Liza Karlen, tapping it to freshman KK Arnold and finishing the opening possession with her first points on an assisted layup. Redshirt freshman Ice Brady never showed fear, making her second career start in her first-ever conference tournament, even with the pressure of replacing Edwards’s average 17.8 points and 9.3 rebounds. She played all 40 minutes and logged eight points, five rebounds and two assists.
As she was in the quarterfinal against Providence, Bueckers was practically unstoppable for the No. 9 Huskies from the beginning. She was one rebound shy of a double-double at halftime with 11 points and nine boards plus three assists and two blocks. Meanwhile, UConn held Marquette scoreless for the first six minutes of the game, allowing just five points on two field goals in the entire first quarter.
Bueckers finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds shooting 11-for-16 from the field and 3-for-5 from 3-point range, including a buzzer-beater from several feet behind the arc at the end of the third quarter. She also logged all four of UConn’s blocks and three of its five steals.
Even after Arnold picked up her third foul with more than seven minutes left in the half, fellow freshmen Ashlynn Shade and Qadence Samuels stepped up to fill her shoes. Shade shot 4-for-7 in the first half for nine points, and Samuels hit her long field goal attempt while adding a rebound in just eight minutes on the floor.
Even without Edwards, the Huskies had their best performance against Karlen in three meetings with the Golden Eagles. Marquette’s star forward finished with 12 points, well below her season-average 17 and the 21 points she scored in her first game against UConn this season. The Huskies dominated the lane, scoring 26 points in the paint to Marquette’s six, and they also comfortably led the rebounding battle 37-30.
UConn kept its momentum rolling into the second half, forcing four turnovers over five minutes in third quarter even as the teams combined for a nearly three-minute scoring drought. Naturally, it was Bueckers who ended the cold streak with a long 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer that send the Huskies into the fourth with an 18-point lead and the energy of the crowd fully behind them. An 11-0 fourth quarter secured UConn’s return to the Big East championship game for the 27th time in coach Geno Auriemma’s 39-year career.
The Huskies had a poor shooting performance, making 47.9% from the field, 38.9% from 3-point range and 50% at the free-throw line. Defense fueled the victory as UConn held the Golden Eagles to their lowest-scoring game of the season, and the Huskies created 12 turnovers for eight points. Marquette is only the opponent that UConn has held under 30 points this season.
