UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Different conference, same result for UConn.
After winning seven consecutive titles in the American Athletic Conference, the top-ranked Huskies beat Marquette 73-39 on Monday night in their return to the Big East tournament’s championship game.
Paige Bueckers scored 23 points and was named the tournament’s most outstanding player when UConn (24-1) took his 19th Big East tournament title. She hit 10 of 15 shots, grabbed six rebounds, and had four assists.
Christyn Williams added 16 points as UConn won its 160th straight game in conference play.
Connecticut held Marquette against 22% shooting, scoring 28 points on 21 Golden Eagle sales.
“We have a sense of urgency and it starts on the defensive side,” said Williams. “I think the game for us tonight was our defense.”
The Huskies rushed to center court and hopped around after the last horn, then held up their eighth league trophy in a row as staff fired confetti cannons into the largely empty arena. The team, which consists of seven freshmen who have never experienced a title, lay down on the floor and made confetti angels.
“I’ve never been more proud of a team to be honest, with all these young kids and how much they’ve grown up in four or five months,” said coach Geno Auriemma. “It was really refreshing to see.”
Camryn Taylor had 11 points and 13 rebounds for Marquette (19-6), who lost in the conference finals for the fourth consecutive season after winning the title in 2017. Selena Lott, who entered the game with an average of slightly more than 15 points, was retained. to two points on five shots and was chased by Williams throughout the game.
UConn was never behind during the tournament.
Evina Westbrook hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to open the scoring part of a 9-0 run. Another 3-pointer from the transfer in Tennessee covered a 15-2 run, and the Huskies led 29-10 after 10 minutes.
“When you descend that strongly to UConn in the first quarter, it’s going uphill, really uphill, the rest of the way,” said Marquette coach Megan Duffy.
Marquette slowed the pace in the second quarter, surpassing UConn 13-12, but the Huskies went into halftime 41-23.
The Golden Eagles cut the lead back to 16 early in the third quarter, but Nika Muhl (11 points) followed a 3-pointer with a bargain and a basket to push the lead back to 21.
The Huskies led after three quarters with 56-30.
They will enter the NCAA Tournament with a winning streak of 14 games after their lone loss to Arkansas in January.
LARGE PHOTO
Marquette: The Golden Eagles had won seven of their previous eight games. That other loss came on March 1 with 10 points in Connecticut.
UConn: Despite being absent from the conference for seven seasons, the Huskies still have more tournament titles than all other conference members this year combined (14). The Huskies’ last Big East title came against Notre Dame in 2012. UConn lost to the Fighting Irish in the 2013 championship game before moving to the AAC.
STATE OF THE GAME
After scoring just two fast-break points in their 63-53 win over Marquette a week ago, the Huskies beat the Golden Eagles 19-4 on Monday’s hiatus.
HE SAID IT
Auriemma on the unprecedented success of the program:
“I don’t care if we prepare for UMass Lowell, which we played in our very first game, or if we prepare for the best team in the country on national television. We don’t care. It’s the same. Scouting report is the same. The same thing. We do everything the same. So there is a consistency in what we do. And that consistency, I think, pays off if you put in it. And we have really tough kids. “
NEXT ONE
Both teams await NCAA tournament bids, where UConn is expected to be the overall No. 1 seed.