UConn destroys South Carolina in shocking fashion to win first national championship since 2016
TAMPA, Fla.— Sunday’s national championship game was over when Sania Feagin shoved Paige Bueckers to the ground late in the third quarter.Dawn Staley had already taken a seat on South Carolina’s bench. The frustration of a national championship game slipping from the Gamecock’s fingertips reached a melting point.Bueckers bounced up from the court like it was a trampoline and immediately started to clap because she also knew that shove was a white flag from South Carolina. Connecticut took the lead near the midway point of the first quarter and put the Gamecocks away by the end of the third.
By the fourth, Connecticut was having fun and the celebration began before the final score showed UConn won, 82-59.The Huskies regained their spot at college basketball’s mountain top for the first time since 2016.They also handed Staley her first loss in a national championship.Fudd promised Bueckers Saturday that she’d contribute more in this national championship game than their first trip back in 2022 when a bug plagued Connecticut’s locker room. Fudd made good on that promise, scoring 24 points.But it was freshman Sarah Strong who was the undoubted difference maker. Strong was a two-way menace, muscling her way to rebounds and baskets.
She did everything to help the Huskies win.She finished with 24 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals. Sunday’s tilt came down to one simple fact: The Huskies wanted it more. They wanted to end the nearly decade-long title drought that had hung over the program and Geno Auriemma.
They wanted retribution from what South Carolina did to it in the national championship. And Connecticut collectively wanted it for Bueckers. The “M-V-P” chants broke out when Bueckers stepped up to the free throw line in the fourth quarter. But Bueckers, who had 17 points, wasn’t even UConn’s best player on the court Sunday. The Huskies won Sunday because at some point along the way this season, they turne...