Paige Bueckers, Aaliyah Edwards carry resilient UConn Huskies past USC in Elite Eight

In yet another star-studded matchup of a thrilling night in women’s college basketball, Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies pulled out a 80-73 win over JuJu Watkins and USC on Monday night in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA tournament at the Moda Center in Portland.

UConn adds to its NCAA record with a 23rd appearance in the women’s Final Four, and will face Caitlin Clark and Iowa on Friday.

Bueckers put up 28 points to go along with 10 rebounds and six assists, proving a dangerous one-two punch with teammate Aaliyah Edwards, who had 24 points and six rebounds.

For the Trojans, Watkins remained a constant scoring threat and ended up with 29 points and 10 rebounds. She was supplemented by a strong performance from McKenzie Forbes, who scored 24.

USC got out to a 15-6 lead early as UConn’s offense struggled out of the gate. But a quick 9-0 run by the Huskies tied things up, and USC led by just two after one quarter.

Bueckers and Watkins lit up the scoreboard in the second quarter, trading buckets and carrying their teams through spurts that tilted the lead back and forth. Bueckers had 15 points in the first half and Watkins had 13.

At the break, the game was tied, 33-33, despite a rough overall shooting half for the Trojans (32%).

The Huskies came out swinging in the second half, rattling off a 17-7 run to take a double-digit lead. But Watkins and her teammates hit their open shots and were able to claw back to within four, 55-51, through three.

USC kept fighting in the fourth, with Watkins and Forbes pouring it on to tie things up, 59-59, with 7:21 to go.

With Watkins continuing to push the pace, Bueckers was finding her spots on the other end and knocking down crucial jumpers. At the 3:43 mark, her 3-pointer at the top of the key gave UConn a 70-64 lead.

USC kept the foot on the gas pedal, but the shots stopped falling and UConn remained poised down the stretch to hang on to the victory.