Paige Bueckers steps up as UConn hangs on, beats NC State in two OTs to advance to 14th straight Final Four

When UConn’s Dorka Juhász went down midway through the second quarter of the NCAA Tournament Bridgeport Regional championship game against North Carolina State, crumpled against the basket standard and crying, the energy left the building and the UConn crowd was silent.

The injury clearly shook up the Huskies, but they were able to hang on against a tough, experienced North Carolina State team that refused to go away and forced two overtimes.

Led by Paige Bueckers’ 27 points and 21 from Christyn Williams, UConn advanced to its 14th straight Final Four with a 91-87 double overtime victory over top-seeded NC State Monday night at Total Mortgage Arena.

“It’s one of the best games I’ve ever been part of since I’ve been at UConn - regular season, post-season, it doesn’t really matter,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “It was just amazing the way the 10 kids on the court were playing for their lives, nobody wants to lose and everybody’s making big play after big play and nobody backed down from the moment.

“It’s a shame one of us had to lose.”

The Huskies (29-5) will play Stanford Friday night in the national semifinal game at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Freshman Azzi Fudd, who was named to the All-Regional team along with Williams, added 19 points for the second-seeded Huskies.

UConn took the lead for good when Bueckers hit a 3 to open the second OT. With 21 seconds left in the game, UConn broke the press and Williams hit a driving layup to give the Huskies an 89-85 lead. The Wolfpack answered with a shot by Jakia Brown-Turner to cut the lead to 89-87 with 10.1 seconds left. Williams hit a shot with 5 seconds left to give UConn the final lead, and NC State’s last shot missed.

“I would have loved to watch that game,” Bueckers said. “Being in it was crazy. It was a lot of fun to play in. Two very competitive teams. We found a way to win. We stuck together and stayed composed.”

The score was tied at 61 after regulation and 77-77 after the first OT.

Bueckers, who was named the regional MVP, had 15 points in the overtime periods.

Brown-Turner led NC State with 20 points, and Elissa Cunane added 18.

“We came into a tough environment, against a great team and went toe to toe with them,” NC State coach Wes Moore said. “Hats off to UConn. Bueckers — she had a great performance. They’ve got a really good team. I wish we would have seen them at the Final Four instead of here, but that’s the way it works.”

UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Juhasz fractured her wrist. She left the court after the injury and returned to the bench in the second half with the arm wrapped up and in a sling.

“It’s always hard to see a teammate go down like that, especially in the middle of the game,” Williams said. “But Coach got us together and basically told us the biggest thing we could do for her was win the game. That was just our mentality.”

Neither team backed down, throughout the game.

Like she did in the regional semifinal, Williams got off to a hot start, scoring nine points in the first quarter. UConn defense made a stop on NC State’s final shot attempt by Diamond Johnson and the Huskies led 16-14 after a quarter.

Nelson-Ododa picked up her second foul with 9:39 left in the second quarter and Juhász came in off the bench. She hit her first shot a little over a minute later and Nika Muhl, who started the second in place of Bueckers, followed that up with a putback. When Evina Westbrook drove into the lane and hit a shot to give the Huskies a 25-16 lead, Moore called a timeout.

Then Juhasz went down hard under the basket with 6:19 left in the second quarter. Her teammates rushed to her and tried to help her up, but she couldn’t rise, clutching her left arm and crying. The arena was still. Juhasz finally was helped off the court.

Edwards missed two subsequent free throws. Jada Boyd hit two and NC State crept back, trailing 25-20.

Fudd brought a little of the energy back, driving to the basket for a layup with 5:18 left in the half and then hitting a 3-pointer to boost UConn’s lead to 30-20.

But UConn seemed aware that its post game — an important factor in the game against NC State’s 6-foot-5 center and leading scorer Cunane — had been diminished with Nelson-Ododa in foul trouble and Juhász injured. The Wolfpack led in rebounding at halftime (20-18) by a slight margin — however, UConn had a 20-10 advantage in points in the paint and had a 7-0 advantage in second-chance points to keep the Huskies on top.

UConn has seen its share of injuries this season, though, and seemed prepared to rebound emotionally.

“It impacted this game a lot,” Williams said. “It’s very sad for Dorka but I feel the way our season has gone all year, we were well prepared for this game and for something like that to happen. We’ve kind of learned how to sub in and keep rolling with the punches.”

In the third quarter, both Edwards and Nelson-Ododa picked up their third fouls. North Carolina State cut the lead to 34-33 on a three-point play by Cunane with 8:29 left in the quarter. But Bueckers hit consecutive jumpers to boost the Huskies’ lead back to 38-33.

A steal by Westbrook and a fast break, resulting in a Fudd reverse layup, gave UConn a 40-35 lead and when Bueckers hit a jumper with 3:08 left, the crowd surged and UConn seemed to have regained some of its energy back.

But NC State closed out the quarter with a jumper by Boyd and a 3-pointer by Johnson with 30 seconds left to trim UConn’s lead to 44-43.

And the Wolfpack kept up the pressure in the fourth. Boyd went by Edwards to hit a shot to open the quarter and give NC State a 45-44 lead. A dagger 3-pointer by Johnson put NC State up 50-46 with 8:16 left and Auriemma called a timeout.

UConn fought back with Williams hitting a 3-pointer and a jumper to give UConn a 53-52 lead. Brown-Turner hit two free throws to wrestle the lead back. Boyd missed the first free throw but hit one to give the Wolfpack a 55-53 lead with 5:19 left.

At the end of regulation, a shot clock violation by UConn and two missed free throws by Olivia Nelson-Ododa in the last minute and a half kept the score tied at 61. Crutchfield missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, and the game headed into overtime.

In the first OT, Fudd made a nice pass to Edwards under the basket with 43 seconds left to give UConn a 73-70 lead. Jones hit a shot with 29 seconds left to cut the lead to one. Fudd then hit two free throws to extend the Huskies’ lead to 75-72. Edwards fouled Kai Crutchfield on the 3-point line with 21.5 seconds left, and she hit two of three free throws to cut the lead to 75-74.

With 6.2 seconds left, Bueckers was fouled and hit both free throws with 6.2 seconds left to give UConn a 77-74 lead. NC State’s Brown-Turner hit a 3-pointer with 8/10ths of a second left to tie the score at 77 and send the game into a second OT.

Lori Riley can be reached at lriley@courant.com.