UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Different conference, same result for UConn.
After winning seven consecutive titles at the American Athletic Conference, the top-ranked Huskies defeated Marquette 73-39 on Monday night on their return to the Big East tournament game.
Paige Bueckers scored 23 points and was voted the best player in the tournament, as UConn (24-1) won her 19th tournament title in the Big East. She hit 10 out of 15 shots, grabbed six rebounds and had four assists.
Christyn Williams scored 16 points in UConn’s victory in her 160th consecutive game at the conference.
Connecticut kept Marquette with 22% of pitches and scored 28 points from 21 Golden Eagle sales.
“We have a sense of urgency and it all starts at the defensive end,” said Williams. “I think it was our defense that won the game for us tonight.”
The Huskies ran to the center court and jumped after the final horn, then raised their eighth consecutive league trophy while the team fired confetti cannons into the almost empty arena. The team, which brings together seven freshmen who had never won a title before, went down to the ground and made confetti angels.
“To be honest with you, I have never been more proud of a team, of all these kids and how much they have grown over the course of four or five months,” said coach Geno Auriemma. “It was really refreshing to watch.”
Camryn Taylor had 11 points and 13 rebounds for Marquette (19-6), who lost in the conference final for the fourth consecutive season after winning the title in 2017. Selena Lott, who entered the game with an average of just over 15 points, was stopped at two points in five shots and was chased by Williams throughout the game.
UConn never lost during the tournament.
Evina Westbrook hit a 3-point ball from the right wing to open the scoring, part of a 9-0 run. Another 3-point transfer from Tennessee culminated in 15-2, and the Huskies led 29-10 after 10 minutes.
“When you arrive at UConn in the first quarter, it’s an uphill, really uphill, the rest of the way,” said Marquette coach Megan Duffy.
Marquette slowed down in the second quarter and overcame UConn 13-13, but the Huskies reached the break 41-23.
The Golden Eagles narrowed the lead to 16 at the start of the third quarter, but Nika Muhl (11 points) followed a 3-point basket with a steal and a basket to push the lead back to 21.
The Huskies led 56-30 after three quarters.
They will enter the NCAA tournament in a sequence of 14 consecutive wins after a solitary defeat to Arkansas in January.
BIG PICTURE
Marquette: The Golden Eagles have won seven of their previous eight games. This other defeat came by 10 points in Connecticut on March 1.
UConn: Despite being absent from the conference for seven seasons, the Huskies still have more tournament titles than all the other members of this year’s conference combined (14). The last Big East title of the Huskies was against Notre Dame in 2012. UConn lost to Fighting Irish in the 2013 championship game before leaving for AAC.
GAME STATUS
After scoring just two quick points in their 63-53 victory over Marquette last week, the Huskies overcame the Golden Eagles by 19-4 at Monday’s break.
HE SAID
Auriemma on the program’s unprecedented success:
“I don’t care if we are preparing for UMass Lowell, which we played in our first game, or we are preparing for the best team in the country on national television. It doesn’t matter to us. The preparation is the same. The Scouting report is the same. We do everything the same. So there is consistency in what we do. And that consistency, I think, pays off when you’re committed to it. And we have really tough kids. “
NEXT
Both teams await moves from the NCAA tournament, where UConn is expected to be the No. 1 overall.