UConn's 'other' players assist Paige Bueckers in getting to title game in her home state

Connecticut sophomore guard and women's Final Four hometown star Paige Bueckers did what she does in her team's tense 63-58 national semifinal victory over defending champion Stanford on Friday night at Target Center.

It was Bueckers' teammates — particularly UConn's seniors — who brought home a win.

They did so over a Stanford team that had won 24 consecutive games since a December loss at South Carolina, which also advanced to Sunday's title game by beating Louisville.

But it was quite a wild ride through the second semifinal's final minutes.

That's when UConn botched an inbounds play after a Stanford basket and turned the ball over with a bad pass, one of the Huskies' 19 turnovers.

"Man, we make it so hard on ourselves," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said afterward. "We make it twice as hard as it already is. Hopefully, Sunday is just about beating South Carolina and not beating ourselves as much."

But his team did enough to win a game after UConn had made four consecutive Final Fours but didn't make it to a title game, until Friday.

"You get to the Final Four, it's not easy to win either game," Auriemma said. "It's not easy to win this one and not easy to win the next one. I'm always amazed when we've been to [four] Final Fours in a row and people say your program is falling apart.

"It's a really hard game to win. They're the defending national champions and they have everyone back."

UConn starting senior forward Olivia Nelson-Ododa did her part (eight points, 10 rebounds) on the Target Center court fewer than 10 miles from Bueckers grew up.

So, too, did sophomore forward Aaliyah Edwards (nine points, eight rebounds), senior guard Christyn Williams (10 points) and reserve senior guard Evina Westbrook (12 points).

"Our seniors are doing it all," Uconn sophomore guard Nika Muhl said. "They're there to win and we're there to listen to them. We have one more games and I'm sure they're going to lead us to that, too."

Nelson-Ododa's three-point play with 9:20 left in the game helped repel a Cardinal team that had pulled within 39-37.

Later, Edwards muscled an offensive rebound, was fouled and made two free throws to push UConn's lead back to 52-46. She also drew an important late charge on Stanford star guard Haley Jones.

Stanford pulled within 60-58 with 18.4 seconds left, but didn't foul Edwards when they had the chance. UConn made enough free throws and killed off enough time to hold on.

The Huskies limited Stanford to 4-for-23 shooting on three-pointers and just 58 points.

Friday's victory was in some ways symbolic of UConn's trying season in which the Huskies faced injuries, including the one that kept Bueckers out for two months starting in December.

"I don't know what more I can say about this group than what we have been saying," Auriemma said. "It was pretty remarkable, to be honest with you. We didn't exactly play our 'A' game on the offensive end, but we did the things we needed to do when we had to do them. We came up big."