Behind a Herculean effort by Paige Bueckers, UConn women’s basketball defeated South Carolina’s No. 1 in overtime by 63-59. It is the first Huskies win in overtime since December 2004.
Bueckers made his final five pitches, including a 3-point circus in overtime with 10 seconds remaining that ricocheted off the edge to the height of the shot clock before falling back through the cylinder to place UConn for four and guarantee victory. It was she who scored only 3 points of the night. She finished with 31 points and became Husky’s first freshman to score 30 points in three consecutive games.
Gamecocks started an 11-point run in the fourth period to take a four-point lead with just 1:35 left, but Bueckers brought UConn back with a pair of jumpers to tie the game in 48. The two teams exchanged turnovers in the minute final, which gave South Carolina the last chance. Gamecocks gave the basket four looks in the last four seconds, but was unable to find the winning basket.
Bueckers scored all nine points for UConn in overtime, including the game’s final seven points. No other Huskies ended in double-digit scores. Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Muhl added eight points, while Olivia Nelson-Ododa played a key role in the attack, with a high of six assists and seven rebounds.
As a team, UConn had the record for the season 73 shots, but only hit 29 (39.7%). He only made two of his 15 attempts out of three as well.
South Carolina star Aliyah Boston led the Gamecocks with 17 points and 15 rebounds. The visitors kicked 36.8 percent of the field, made only a 3-point basket and hit just 8-15 of the free throw line. They did not register a single point of rapid break.
UConn had another slow start and did not find the basket until the 7:00 mark in the first quarter. Husky’s attack consisted mainly of Nelson-Ododa picking up jumpers early on, which didn’t work well with Junior starting just 1-5 on the field.
Fortunately, UConn’s defense came out with a lot of energy and forced six turns in South Carolina in the first quarter, which limited the Gamecocks’ impact to 50 percent. Despite scoring just 10 points in the first quarter, the Huskies dropped just four after 10 minutes.
UConn’s kicks started to fall in the second period, which helped the Huskies set up a 6-0 streak that tied the game for the first time since the opening minute. Even so, UConn failed to grab the South Carolina leadership in part because of eight turns in the second quarter.
The Huskies tried harder to put the ball inside, with 10 points from their 14 points from the second quarter entering the painting. UConn also generated a lot with his defense, turning 12 Gamecock spins into six points in the opposite direction.
The Huskies took their first advantage in the game at 1:02 remaining and were prepared to go to the locker room with a three-point advantage after Edwards found the basket four seconds from the end, but South Carolina’s Zia Cooke got it right the court half shot the bell to balance in 24-24.
That shot was the first of 3 points in the game, with the two teams combined 1-11 in addition to the arc and 35.4% overall.
Out of range, the Gamecocks jumped with two quick baskets before the Bueckers finally responded. After eight points in the first half, the freshman dropped 10 in the third quarter to help put UConn in four points in the final period.
The Huskies had to deal with problems, however. Nelson-Ododa was forced to sit down after suffering his fourth foul a minute from the end of the third quarter, while Bueckers scored the third soon after.
UConn took a seven-point lead at the start of the fourth – the biggest of the day – before South Carolina responded with 11 consecutive points and came back ahead by four. That was when Bueckers took over, scoring the final four points of the regulation to send the game into overtime.
In the extra period, the Huskies opened the scoring with a pair of free throws from Bueckers, before the Gamecocks returned with five consecutive points to go up three. UConn made a great defensive stop to keep the game from a ball possession, which allowed Bueckers to work his magic to achieve victory.
According to AP’s Doug Feinberg, this was the first clash between the two best teams in the country to go into overtime since 1992. UConn improves to 14-1 in the season and 22-3 overall in games between n ° 1 and n °. two
Then, UConn will return to Big East to play Seton Hall on Wednesday at the Gampel Pavilion.