UConn guard Paige Bueckers (5) reacts after scoring a basket during the second half against Oklahoma in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Spokane, Wash. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)
The UConn women are on their way to the Elite Eight after defeating Oklahoma, 82-59.
This game is fresh off the heels of Paige Bueckers scoring a career-high 40 points on Saturday, outdoing her prior record of 34 points, which she set last Monday in UConn's second-round victory over South Dakota State.
“We all wanted to win extremely bad,” Bueckers said after the game this weekend.
“Keep the season going as long as possible,” added Bueckers, who has surpassed Tina Charles for fourth place on UConn's career scoring list.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
UConn fans also want to see the season go as long as possible.
“It is nice. I love to see women winning. They obviously work very hard so, it’s good to see all that pay off, Kaylee Cabezas, a UConn freshman, said.
“I think we got it in the bag. I think we’re good,” Brenna Wyman, a UConn junior, said.
Dog House
This is expected to be Bueckers' last season of college basketball.
On Friday, she told former Huskies star and ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo that will she enter the 2025 WNBA Draft. A program spokesperson also confirmed Bueckers' draft plans to The Athletic.
Paige Bueckers confirmed to us today that she will enter the 2025 @WNBA Draft. (Some had suggested she would not declare, play in Unrivaled, and then declare in 2026.)
— Rebecca Lobo (@RebeccaLobo) March 28, 2025
The second-seeded Huskies will face Southern California in a regional final at 9 p.m. Monday.
This is UConn's 29th trip to the Elite Eight.
The last time the UConn women won a national championship was in 2016, when the Huskies defeated Syracuse. 82-51.
Current students have seen UConn dominate in basketball. The men's team won back-to-back titles and made it to the second round of the tournament this year when they fell to Florida.
“We haven’t been at school anytime that we haven’t won a national championship, so I think it’s almost like a given to us, It’s a known, it’s just how it is, and I think it raises the whole schools pride and how we cheer for our teams and support them,” Wyman said.
All the national titles UConn women's basketball has won
- 2016: Connecticut vs. Syracuse, 38-0, in Indianapolis, Ind.
- 2015: Connecticut vs. Notre Dame, 38-1, in Tampa, Fla.
- 2014: Connecticut vs. Notre Dame, 40-0, in Nashville, Tenn.
- 2013: Connecticut vs. Louisville, 35-4, in New Orleans, La.
- 2010: Connecticut vs. Stanford, 39-0, in San Antonio, Texas
- 2009: Connecticut vs. Louisville, 39-0, in St. Louis, Mo.
- 2004: Connecticut vs. Tennessee, 31-4, in New Orleans, La.
- 2003: Connecticut vs. Tennessee, 37-1, in Atlanta, Ga.
- 2002: Connecticut vs. Oklahoma, 39-0, in San Antonio
- 2000: Connecticut vs. Tennessee, 36-1, in Philadelphia, Pa.
- 1995: Connecticut vs. Tennessee, 35-0, in Minneapolis, Minn.
