UConn women’s basketball dominates Marquette as all five starters score 10-plus
MILWAUKEE — Paige Bueckers called game in UConn women’s basketball’s 85-59 win over Marquette at the halftime buzzer on Tuesday night.
Marquette’s Jordan King drained a 3-pointer with six seconds left in the second quarter that should have sent both teams to the locker room. Instead, Bueckers took three dribbles from the opposite baseline to just across half court and pulled up for a buzzer-beater from the logo that didn’t touch the backboard on its way down.
Bueckers said she took the shot looking to redeem a missed 3-pointer in the final second of the first quarter.
“The first quarter one was really bad. I rushed it so it didn’t look good leaving my had,” Bueckers said. “The halftime one felt really good when it left my hand. I kind of knew when it left that it was going to go in … I shoot them pretty often (in practice) just for fun throwing the ball up there, but I always do it with the same form.”
The UConn star logged 19 points before halftime and finished with 26 shooting 11 of 18 from the field and 4 of 5 from 3-point range. It was her third consecutive game with at least 20 points.
The No. 8 Huskies (17-3, 9-0 Big East) looked visibly shaken when Bueckers went down with an apparent left knee injury midway through the first quarter, and Marquette (15-4, 4-4) took a 12-9 lead in the two minutes that she was off the floor. As soon as she returned, UConn got its spark back and led the Golden Eagles 19-18 after the first.
“The things she does impact each and every player on our team in a positive way, just her presence on the floor — and she expects so much from herself,” coach Geno Auriemma said. “She was very, very vocal today on the bench, going into timeouts. I think she’s doing just about everything that a player can do to help her team.”
UConn continued its trend of slow starts followed by explosive second quarters. The Huskies trailed Marquette early in the second, but an 8-0 run in the final minutes helped them to a 49-38 lead at halftime. Every player who saw the court in the first half scored at least a point.
The momentum from Bueckers’s buzzer-beater kept the Huskies rolling in the third quarter, as they outscored Marquette 23-14. All five starters had at least 10 points with more than four minutes left in the quarter, and the team finished the third shooting a combined 52.9% from the field and 100% on 3-pointers.
“I was still going wow over Jordan King’s jump shot, because I thought we had her really well guarded,” Auriemma said. “I was still shaking my head looking at the bench, and I looked over and knew (Paige) was going to shoot it … It’s luck, but she thinks it’s not luck. But yeah, that was a great way to go into the locker room for sure, because if she hadn’t made that I think (Marquette) would have gone in on Jordan’s shot and would have been pretty pumped.”
Freshman Ashlynn Shade had another elite performance after earning Big East Freshman of the Week honors for the fifth time on Monday. She shot 6-of-7 from the field and 3-of-3 from beyond the arc for 15 points, and she added six rebounds with a team-high three steals. KK Arnold, playing less than 25 miles from her hometown of Germantown, Wisconsin, went 5-of-8 from the field for 13 points with four rebounds and two steals.
“It was just a surreal moment, like I’m actually in college now and it’s all coming about here,” Arnold said. “There was a lot of my youth group from Germantown and a lot of family that grew up watching me … It was great seeing them and getting to take pictures. I’m glad they didn’t get kicked out right away.”
