This year’s NCAA Women’s Tournament looked like it was South Carolina’s to lose, but the UConn Huskies had different plans in mind, and on Sunday afternoon, the Huskies laid those plans out to perfection in a surprising 82-59 destruction of the Gamecocks.
The title was Geno Auriemma’s 12th as the team’s head coach, which is four more than Tennessee’s Pat Summit, 8 more than LSU’s Kim Mulkey and 9 more than South Carolina’s Dawn Staley and Stanford’s Tara Vanderveer.
An emotional Auriemma had trouble expressing his feelings as ESPN’s Holly Rowe interviewed him immediately after the beat down was complete.
The win was special for many reasons.
UConn, which won its first title since 2016, became the fourth team in history to beat three no.1 seeds in a single tournament en route to winning a National Championship, following Tennessee (1987), Lousiana Tech (1988) and Baylor (2005).
UConn star Azzi Fudd, who battled through injuries to return this season, was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player after dropping 43 points in the last two games.
And of course, there’s Huskies’ star Paige Bueckers, who also battled back after suffering major injuries in her career to win her first championship in her last college game.
The win came against one of the greatest in basketball history, Dawn Staley, who was trying to win her fourth title and repeat as champions.
Now both programs will reload for the 2025-26 season while Bueckers heads to the WNBA Draft on April 14th in New York City.
