With the kick timer about to expire and his team ahead by a single point in overtime, Paige Bueckers launched a long 3-point basket that hit the back of the rim and jumped high into the air.
In Bueckers’ head there was no doubt that the ball would go down the net.
UConn’s first-year star scored 31 points, including his team’s last 13, to lead second-placed Huskies in the 63-59 victory in Monday night’s overtime over South Carolina, who is in first place .
Bueckers scored all 9 Huskies points in overtime, including that unlikely 3 points with just over 10 seconds remaining. There were 13 seconds on the clock when he left his hand.
“He jumped up, so I thought, ‘man, he has to get in,'” she said. “It looked good. It was good, but, yes, I would say it was a very good jump. “
Bueckers has scored 30 or more points in each of his last three games and has 142 points in his last five games.
“It has been a long time since a player has needed to load a team as much as in some of those games,” said Auriemma.
The overtime thriller came just hours after Gamecocks and Huskies won the top two spots in the Associated Press women’s college basketball poll of the top 25.
Aliyah Boston had 17 points and 15 rebounds for South Carolina (15-2), which overcame a deficit of seven points in the fourth period. Zia Cooke and Destanni Henderson missed 3 points in the final seconds.
An Aubrey Griffin tray gave the Huskies (14-1) a 50-43 lead with just over 8 minutes left, before South Carolina increased their defense and went on to an 11-0 run.
Victaria Saxton’s layup over Olivia Nelson-Ododa gave Gamecocks a 52-50 lead, and the Boston jump increased to 54-50 with just under 2.5 minutes to play.
But Bueckers, who also had six steals and five assists, hit two straight jumpers to equalize the game at 54, with 46 seconds to go.
“She is that player,” said UConn coach Geno Auriemma. “She’s that player that people say – ‘Hey, did you see that Connecticut kid?’ She is that child. “
Henderson missed a falling jump with 4 seconds remaining and the Gamecocks lost three chances to take down a game winner.
The defeat ended a string of 12 consecutive wins for South Carolina.
“Let’s learn from this,” said South Carolina coach Dawn Staley. “I told our players that everything we want is still ahead of us.”
This was the Huskies’ first win in overtime since December 2004, when they needed an overtime to beat South Florida. They had lost seven consecutive overtime games since then.