TAMPA, Fla. — Paige Bueckers came to UConn to win a national championship. The star senior guard has made it clear that is her goal.
Sunday afternoon, she’ll have the chance to do just that.
No. 2 UConn ran top overall seed UCLA out of the gym Friday in the second Final Four matchup of the night with an 85-51 win that sends the Huskies back to the title game. South Carolina beat Texas 74-57 earlier in the evening, setting up a showdown between Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley’s teams Sunday.
The Huskies had a 20-point lead entering halftime, the stress on UCLA coach Cori Close’s face evident as the Bruins headed for the locker room. And in the end, UCLA had no answers. Auriemma called the result “somewhat unexpected.”
“You always go into these games this time of the year expecting it to be incredibly, incredibly difficult. And not that it wasn’t, because I think our guys played about as hard as any group of kids can play, but I don’t think we made a mistake the entire evening,” he said. “Especially on the defensive end. I’m just incredibly proud of these guys and what they were able to do.
“I’m humbled by their performance tonight.”
Forward Sarah Strong — arguably the X-factor for a UConn team that has asked much of its true freshman — again starred…
