Foul shots gave UConn a four-point lead and sealed the Huskies’ 63-58 victory, sending them into the national league for the first time since 2016. For four consecutive NCAA tournaments, UConn had lost in the Final Four. But on this fifth trip – the last for this senior division that had never played in a national championship match – Evina Westbrook, Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Williams were determined not to lose. “You can’t come here as a senior and hope someone else wins it for you,” said UConn coach Geno Auriemma, whose Huskies will play No. 1 in South Carolina on Sunday (8 ET, ESPN) for the NCAA Title. Westbrook fired the Huskies early, coming off the bench in the second quarter to replace Aaliyah Edwards, who had just received her second foul. 2 About With Dorka Juhasz out with a broken wrist, Westbrook was the next player in the post. After losing its first two shots, Westbrook scored a corner 3 and pierced it. He made three of four three-pointers in the first half as the Huskies had a one-point lead at halftime. “Somehow, when he gets into big games, he finds a way to hit two or three of them,” Auriemma said. “And it happens every time we need her. I would say she was probably the most valuable player in the game (Friday).” If Westbrook set the tone in the second half, Nelson-Ododa and Williams shouldered that weight in the fourth – as soon as they got back on the floor. They spent the last minutes of the third on the bench. “I think they started to feel” This is it. “I will never go back,” Auriemma said. “And when they came back, they were like different people.” Nelson-Odonta started the quarter with an old-fashioned three-point game and two extra free throws. In UConn’s next possession, Williams hit a 3-point shot to extend the Huskies’ lead to six points. He had struggled aggressively for much of the game and finished just 3-for-13 from the field for the night, but this shot fired the Huskies and changed the momentum. Complete your bracket by selecting the winner for each game of the NCAA Women’s Tournament. Play Tournament Challenge “This is the last year,” said second-year guard Nika Muhl. “They just want to win and we are there to follow them.” This senior division, along with the entire UConn team, has faced adversity for most of the season. The five defeats in the regular season are the most for the program from the 2004-05 season. The defeat of the Huskies by Villanova was the first defeat of the program at the conference since 2013. And the defeat by Georgia Tech – the first game played after second-year guard Paige Bueckers fell with a fractured tibia and torn meniscus – – broke UConn’s 239-game unbeaten streak. Auriemma did not shy away from challenging his senior students. Following the defeat of UConn by Georgia Tech, a frustrated Auriemma attended the press conference and gave a condemnatory assessment of the Huskies’ plight. “I’ve usually been good enough all these years to make the players better,” said Auriemma. “We have very good players coming out of high school, but they are getting better and better every year. And right now, that is not the case.” I’m playing 0:27 UConn’s Paige Bueckers lobs Olivia Nelson-Ododa for a tough bucket plus a foul. This class led to injuries and illnesses that affected UConn throughout the year. In addition to Bueckers’ knee injury, Muhl and freshman Azzi Fudd lost time with leg injuries. First-year Caroline Ducharme, Nelson-Ododa and Williams also lost games. Juhasz also suffered an injury on Monday. As UConn enters the league game, a scene where Auriemma holds an 11-0 record, these problems seem even further away. If the upper class has something to say about it, it has the juice to do it when it matters most. “They did exactly what I expected them to do every night,” Auriemma said. “I hope they have another night in them.”
