Bueckers Nets 40, Sinks Sooners in Sweet Sixteen

UConn guard Paige Bueckers scored a career-high 40 points as the Huskies rolled past the Oklahoma Sooners 82-59 in NCAA Regional 4 play at Spokane Arena on Saturday. The 40-point night by Bueckers is also a UConn NCAA Tournament record as no other Husky player – not Napheesa Collier, Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, Maya Moore, Svetlana Abrosimova, Tina Charles nor Rebecca Lobo, ever reached that plateau during the Tournament.

Yet it was Oklahoma that drew first blood.

When the contest opened, the Sooners jumped out to an early lead starting with a put back layup by forward Sahara Williams. Center Raegan Beers struck with a three-pointer, followed by a three-point play by guard Reyna Scott, who was fouled by UConn guard Kaitlyn Chen on the layup. After the free shot, Oklahoma led 8-0 with 7:26 left in the opening quarter.

Bueckers kicked off UConn’s scoring with a three-pointer. Guard Azzi Fudd scored on a reverse layup. Bueckers added two more from the free throw line after getting fouled by Reyna Scott, and then made a put back jumper. Fudd was fouled by forward Liz Scott and made of of two free throws. The Huskies made it a 10-0 run and took a two-point lead with 4:45 remaining in the opening quarter.

Liz Scott tied the game 10-10 on a layup, but UConn closed out the quarter on a 7-2 run with a fast break layup from Ashlynn Shade, two jump shots by Bueckers, and a free throw by guard KK Arnold. Beers scored a layup for the Sooners. UConn led 17-12 at the half.

When Bueckers made her last jump shot with 2:07 remaining in the quarter, she tied Tina Charles for the fourth most points in UConn history with 2,346 points. With three quarters remaining in this game, she would surpass that total, but a little longer than conventional wisdom would have one believe.

Sooner guard Payton Verhulst drained a three-pointer when the second quarter began, but it was offset by one from Shade. Then the Sooners pounced. Guard Skylar Vann made a jump shot to pull the Sooners with in three. Reyna Scott made a fast break layup and suddenly it was a one-point deficit with 7:31 left in the half.

Fudd interrupted the Sooner run with a three-pointer, but a layup from Williams cut the deficit back to two points. Verhulst took advantage of a Husky defensive miscue by Bueckers and went off on a run of her own with two three-pointers and a jump shot. Arnold answered with a layup, but it was answered by one from Williams to cap off a 12-2 Oklahoma run. The score was 31-25 in favor of the Sooners with 4:15 remaining in the half, as Bueckers went to the bench. Arnold took over the defensive assignment for guarding Verhulst.

Shade made a three-pointer to kill the Sooner run and cut the UConn deficit to three. Verhulst was able to shag Arnold, her defender, with a sharp cut to the basket for a layup to push the lead back up to five points. UConn forward Sarah Strong got into the scoring action with a jump shot and then two free throws after getting fouled by Beers, making it a one-point deficit, but Reyna Scott hit a three-pointer to give Oklahoma the 36-32 halftime lead.

Bueckers was held scoreless in the second quarter and had no assists in the first half. She remained tied with Tina Charles for fourth all-time in school scoring history, with two quarters left to break the tie.

When play resumed, Bueckers got back into first quarter form. She began the third quarter with a three-pointer to vault her into third place all-time in UConn history, and it cut the UConn deficit to one-point. Skylar Vann made a jumper on an inbounds pass, which was answered by a jump shot by Bueckers.

UConn regained the lead with a jump shot from guard Kaitlyn Chen, but surrendered the lead when Liz Scott made a layup with 7:11 remaining in the third quarter. It was 40-39 in favor of Oklahoma.

UConn’s defense kicked in and made life difficult for the Sooners. Oklahoma missed seven consecutive shots while the Huskies went on a 16-0 run with five points each from Bueckers ad Strong, along with two each from Fudd, Chen and Shade. With 2:35 remaining in the third quarter, the Huskies had opened up a comfortable 55-40 lead.

Beers made a layup and converted a free throw after getting fouled by Strong, and Liz Scott added a three-pointer to try to get the deficit back to single digits, but Shade and Strong each made layups in the last minute of play to push the lead back up to 13 points. UConn led 59-46 after three quarters. UConn outscored Oklahoma 27-10 in the frame.

What happened next is one of those historical moments in women’s basketball that will be talked about for ages. Paige Bueckers lifted the team on her shoulders and became a one-woman Sooner wrecking machine.

Bueckers scored a three-pointer to kick off the fourth quarter scoring. Skylar Vann made two free throws after getting fouled by Strong. It was 62-48 in favor of UConn with 8:06 remaining in regulation.

Bueckers made a jump shot and was fouled by Sooner guard Zya Vann, but missed the free throw. Bueckers then made two consecutive jump shots to complete a personal 6-0 run and made the score 68-48 with UConn holding a commanding lead.

Beers was fouled by center Jana El Alfy, who made the first but missed the second of the free shots. UConn forward Ice Brady fouled Liz Scott while rebounding the missed free throw, and converted both of her attempts. UConn led 68-51 with 6:13 remaining on the clock.

Bueckers continued with the hot hand with back-to-back three-pointers, the second giving her 36 points in the game, a career high. She then scored back-to-back layups to complete a personal 10-0 run, and giving her a new career high of 40 points. The score was now 78-51 an outcome firmly in hand with 3:42 left in the game. Bueckers exited the game after Sooner guard Nevaeh Tot fouled Chen to stop the clock.

The Sooners had one last run in them, despite the huge deficit. Beers converted one of two free throws after getting fouled by Strong. Williams made a jump shot, the first field goal of the fourth quarter for the Sooners, making the score 80-54 with 2:16 left in the game. Verlhurst scored her first points of the second half with a three-pointer, and then Williams made a layup with 1:03 on the clock.

Fudd made a jump shot with 37 second left to complete the scoring for the Huskies. Fudd’s jump shot was the only field goal made by the Huskies by a player other than Bueckers. UConn won 82-59 and will advance to the Elite Eight.

UConn went 32-for-73 (43.84 percent) from the field; 10-for-26 (38.46 percent) from three-point range; and 8-for-13 (61.54 percent) from the free throw line.

“It was a really interesting game the way it played out. We went from – it felt like we couldn’t get anything to go our way in that first half. I think the harder we tried to make a shot, the less shots we made,” said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma. “But for the most part, it might not have looked like it, but I thought what made it worse more than it looked like was that we played defense well enough that a team that’s getting 85 or so every night, they had to work really hard for the 36 that they got in the first half.”

“We thought if we can get the same quality shots in the second half that we got in the first half, that it would start to go our way. And everybody had their moment, and obviously Paige was spectacular. That was as good a game as I’ve seen her play the whole time she’s been here at the most important time. When you’re a senior and you’ve been around as long as she has, this is what you’re here to do, this is why you came here. So we’re pretty excited about playing Monday night,” Auriemma added.

Oklahoma was 22-for-62 (35.48) from the field; 7-for-25 (28.00 percent) from three-point range; and 8-for-10 (80.00 percent) from the charity stripe.

“[Payton Verhulst] sparked us in the second quarter to really give us some life. We’ve been a pretty, we’ve done really well actually coming out at halftime, so that actually surprised me that we didn’t. But I do feel like she got us, once Connecticut made their – we started great, then they made their run, I think she helped us make another run,” said Sooners head coach Jennie Baranczyk.

“But I love her versatility and she just does such a great job when she doesn’t have the ball in her hands, and her movement and her offense. We just couldn’t get her the ball much in the second half. Part of that is some of the things that we needed to do better and part of that is their defense,” she added.

The Huskies were led by 40 points from Paige Bueckers, an all-time NCAA tournament high for UConn. Ashlynn Shade added 12 points, Sarah Strong pitched in for 11 points and Azzi Fudd was good for 10 points more. Strong pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. Strong and Fudd each dished five assists to lead the Huskies.

“I think we’re never really surprised when [Bueckers] gets on heaters like that. I think every shot Paige shoots is going in. So that helps to play out there with her. But when they are falling like that, it’s super fun to be a part of. And she really just brings the energy and really motivates us to want to get the ball back, get a stop on defense, make big plays,” said Shade.

Bueckers now has 2,375 points in her career for No. 4 all-time in UConn history. She is 26 points behind Napheesa Collier, who finished with 2,401 in her career. The 40 point game is tied for third place all-time in school history with Maya Moore and Katie Lou Samuelson. Moore scored 41 against Florida State on Dec. 21, 2010 for second place all-time. Nykesha Sales recorded 46 points on Dec. 21, 1997 against Stanford for the single-game record.

“It’s an honor. I’m extremely blessed and extremely grateful that I even get to play at UConn and be in these conversations with, like, the greatest of all time,” said Bueckers regarding setting the UConn all-time tournament scoring record. “But people see the points, but, like, a large just attribution to Sarah [Strong], Jana [El Alfy], Ice [Brady], the way they were screening for me, getting me open, getting me looks. Like, everybody sees the points, but nobody sees the screens set, the passes that were found to me. So it’s, I guess, an individual point total, but it’s really a team effort.”

Payton Verhulst led the Sooners with 16 points. Sahara Williams and Reagan Beers each added 10 points. Williams pulled down 10 rebounds for the Sooners, while Reyna Scott dished a game-high six assists.

“I would just say they hit shots coming out in the third quarter. Obviously coming off those screens, knocking down those shots, finding ways to score, they did a good job of that in that third quarter. And offensively sometimes we got stuck here and there,” said Beers. “Obviously Payton did a great job of trying to keep us in it. I feel like she did. She didn’t stop moving. She always wanted the ball. She always wanted to make something happen. And so to have someone out there like Payton to fuel us when that run wasn’t going in our favor was super important and happy to have her on our team this year.”

The No. 2 UConn Huskies (34-3) will face No. 1 USC Trojans (31-3) in the Elite 8 at Spokane Arena at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

CORRECTION: The story has been edited to reflect Bueckers being 4th all-time in scoring in school history, instead of 3rd all-time as previously written.