Connecticut is on the way to its fourteenth consecutive final after the double thriller. Husky n. 2 in the standings lost first place in the state of NC, 91-87, In what was essentially a home game in the Bridgeport area on Monday.
It was the first double overtime match in Elite Eight or later in the history of the Women’s Championships. Paige Bueckers showed up in the clutch in the first overtime and scored the opening triple 20 seconds in the second overtime to lift Husky 80-77. UConn is up to five, the biggest advance of any overtime period, but it still comes down to the last few participations.
Also two, Ocon (29-5) hit the ball 10 seconds before the end of the match, even though he was close to a five-second call. Senior Kristen Williams set an easy bucket for the win. She scored Ocon’s last five points to finish with 21 and five rebounds.
“It just refers to what we’ve been through all year,” Beckers told the ESPN broadcast. “A lot of trials, ups and downs, ups and downs. We have held together and we have stayed together. I love my team ”.
The Bakers warmed up in their first overtime in the clutch by scoring the match’s highest score of 27 points in an effective shot of 10 for 15. It was a 6 for 7 from the free throw line – a crucial sight given the team was 12 out of 20 – with six rebounds. The Bakers, the National Player of the Year in office for a few more days, looked their best after knee surgery that kept her out of 19 games.
“Thank God Big is back,” Ocon coach Gino Orima said during the broadcast. “He Gives everyone so much confidence. And then everyone played somehow – everyone took turns playing.
“It was just a great basketball game. It was a great show for our sport ”.
Bueckers noted on the show that it was a “win or go home” a couple of days ago, but even with the win, he’ll go home to Minnesota. Two more victories win his first national championship. The Huskis will face number 1 on the Stanford and Spokane charts when the final of the four approaches Minneapolis on Friday.
UConn drives ahead. NC state restitution commission
Wolfpack was 10 points behind in the first half, an unusual situation for a team that started slowly, losing easy buckets. Elisa Konan was 1a 2 out of 6 for five points, but she revived at 1 and 1 at 8:29 from the third who came to a point, 34-33. The state of North Carolina had a chance to equalize with 40 with three minutes left in the quarter, but missed easy shots to chase them after a block on the other side.
The seeded at last took the lead 35 seconds from the last quarter after a corner from Jada Boyd assisted by Raina Perez. Diamond Johnson hit Pointer 3 with another Perez pass that finished 12-2 taking the state of North Carolina to fourth. It’s been a back and forth duel for the past eight minutes.
It’s about which team can crucially stop. In a way, it was NC but also UConn that stopped. After Diamond Johnson missed a field goal, UConn committed an out-of-time shot time violation. Konan equalized at 1:03 and NC State had the last word after missing two free throws. But Johnson was a triple and could only hand it over to Kay Crutchfield, who was forced into a late and deep 3-point attempt with a bad look.
NC 2OT state troops with corner 3
The Bakers scored 10 of UConn’s 16 points in the first half of extra time. Aaliyah Edwards gave UConn the biggest advantage in the frame with a pass from Azzi Fudd that brought the score to 73-70 with 49 seconds left.
Kayla Jones responded to NC State with a contact on the basket, but there was no foul. Fdd fired two free throws to bring the lead to three and Crutchfield committed a foul on a 3-point attempt, but only made two free throws to equalize the game again. He held UConn in the hands of Fudd and Bueckers to stop time and put good free throwers on the line for any foul.
The Buckers made their two free throws again, but with six seconds left on the clock, NC State manager Wes Moore was able to set the game he wanted. even him. Gaia Brown Turner punched a triple corner from Perez’s cross with a second from the left to force a second overtime.
And he led Brown Turner North Carolina State with 20 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Perez had 10 assists, but was 1 in 8 in total with 3 points as his only points. Konan scored 18 points, shooting 8 of 13 with nine rebounds. The starters melded for seven blocks, but UConn’s 14 to eight transitions were problematic in the first inning.
Other injuries for UConn
Connecticut’s injury season continued in the league. Husky arrived in the Elite Eight after using 11 different starting lineups as eight different players have missed at least two games. Beckers returned a month before her leg surgery she had undergone in December.
Durka Johasz missed an offensive rebound and fell under the basket screaming in pain in the middle of the fourth quarter. The first replay was blurry, but another angle horribly showed Johas hitting his left wrist as he fell on top of him.
The graduate student, who had moved from Ohio State, immediately left for the locker room with an ice bag on her wrist and never returned to the game. She she sees herself on the bench with her wrist tight in the third quarter.
“If we see one of our sisters fall, we will do it for her,” Beckers told the radio show. “We all love each other. We are all very close ”.
The two-time All-Big Ten first-team player averaged 7.5 points and 5.8 rebounds in 20.4 minutes per game with UConn, mostly off the bench. He arrived when Nelson Ododa made his second mistake early in the second quarter.
Huskies’ depth became suspicious in the second half when Edwards and Nelson Ododa committed their third foul at 8:29 and 5:34 respectively. Edwards missed in the second extra period.
