UConn dominates UCLA in Final Four as it rolls into national championship game

TAMPA, Fla. — Paige Bueckers didn’t initially take her seat after checking out of the game for the final time Friday night. 

She stood and watched intently, her eyes tracking the basketball like a motion sensor. 

UCLA ultimately turned the ball over.

A media timeout was called.

She stood with the widest grin possible, clapping as she marched toward her teammates to high-five them. 

With Connecticut up 29 points with about four minutes to go, a national championship berth was all but sealed.

The second-seeded Huskies ultimately delivered a dominant 85-51 beatdown of UCLA, the top overall seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. 

Connecticut didn’t get another headline performance from Bueckers — but it didn’t need it. 

By the end of the third quarter, Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong combined for as many points as the entire UCLA team (37.) 

Strong didn’t stop there.

She scored 14 of her team-high 22 points in the second half in an epic rout.

The standout freshman also had eight rebounds. 

Fudd, who was due for a big game, scored her 19 points in the first half.

Bueckers finished with 16 points, five rebounds and three steals.

Meanwhile, UCLA star Lauren Betts had 26 points, but the Bruins didn’t have the secondary scoring needed to hang with Connecticut. 

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The Huskies are set to go head-to-head with South Carolina on Sunday in the national championship game. 

The Huskies dismantled South Carolina on its own stomping grounds in a 29-point romping in February.

But the last time these two teams squared off in the national championship, back in 2022, South Carolina won. 

Bueckers has the potential to write the greatest storybook ending to her illustrious college career.

She has the potential to go out with the one thing that she’s yet to capture at UConn — a national championship. 

It won’t be easy. 

While the Huskies already dismantled South Carolina once this season — a 29-point romping on the Gamecocks’ home court — Dawn Staley has an unblemished 3-0 record in national championship games. 

But if Friday night was any indicator, both teams are saving their best basketball for now.