The UConn women’s basketball team staged a spectacular comeback in the second half, but narrowly fell short in a 72-70 loss to No. 7 USC on Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd at the XL Center.

The No. 4 Huskies (10-2) trailed by as many as 14 points in the second quarter, outscored USC 41-30 after halftime and immediately cemented the match as a classic. Superstar Paige Bueckers led UConn with 22 points by shooting 9 of 22 from the field, and standout freshman Sarah Strong recorded the third double-double of her career with 22 points and 13 rebounds along with five assists.

“I’m really, really proud of the team that came out of the locker room to play in the second half. “I’m a little disappointed and not at all happy with the team that opened the game,” said coach Geno Auriemma. “So we have to figure out what the difference is between these two teams…I thought the execution in the first half was as bad as I’ve seen in the last few years here in Connecticut. It’s not that we can’t do it, because we spent 20 minutes on it. When you look at the stats, you can’t really pick anything apart.”

USC star JuJu Watkins impressed with 25 points plus six rebounds, five assists and three blocks. Projected WNBA lottery pick Kiki Iriafen added 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Trojans. The pair led USC to its first win over UConn in program history and handed the Huskies their first home loss of the 2024-25 season. The teams had not met in the regular season since 2003.

UConn came out sluggish, allowing a 9-0 run in the game’s first four minutes, but Bueckers ignited the Huskies’ offense with a trademark off-balance pull-up jump shot for the team’s first field goal of the game. Strong, who scored UConn’s first points with two free throws, quickly got involved soon after, adding a contested three-pointer to cut the Trojans’ lead to a single possession.

A 6-0 UConn run ended with a pull-up jump shot from Watkins, who scored 10 points in the first quarter alone. The sophomore phenom started 2-for-2 from 3-point range, contributing to a 3-for-5 first quarter for USC, while the Huskies’ shooters struggled to get going 1-for-5 from outside. Although Watkins picked up her second foul late in the first quarter, USC continued to increase its lead, holding UConn scoreless for nearly six minutes total in the first quarter.

UConn was forced to trade layups and jumpers for 3-pointers in the second quarter amid an elite shooting performance from the Trojans. USC had one of its best halves of the season, going 7-for-11 from distance, fueled by its trio of top-ranked freshmen. Kennedy Smith, playing her first game since undergoing surgery on Nov. 23, hit two 3-pointers in the first half and Kayleigh Heckel added another as part of her perfect shooting start from the field. Smith finished the game with nine points on 3-for-6 from 3-point range.

The Huskies ended the first half with a three-minute scoring drought, and Bueckers entered halftime with just seven points, shooting 30% from the field. She made UConn’s only 3-pointer in the second quarter on an assist from Azzi Fudd, but Strong was only able to score two points in the second quarter. USC made seven 3-pointers in the first half, more than in six of its previous 11 full games this season.

“For us to win, it generally comes down to when you make (shots) and how many opportunities you have to score,” Auriemma said. “They could score inside today, which we understand, but they made threes that they don’t (normally) make, so that ends up being the lead. We made more free throws and we made more free throws than them, but if we don’t make more threes than the other team in these games, it’s going to be really hard for us to win.”

The Huskies struggled to regain momentum early in the second half, but Bueckers was aggressive and scored six points in the first five minutes of the third quarter. KK Arnold then checked in off the bench and invigorated the Huskies, helping them force four turnovers in five minutes against the Trojans. The series of defensive stops led to a 14-2 run that brought UConn back to a single-digit deficit.

The crowd reached its loudest decibel of the game when Arnold made a steal that she turned into an assist with a shade 3-pointer, and it roared even louder when she did the same for Bueckers moments later after another Trojans turnover . UConn ended the quarter with a 13-2 run that included nine points from the Buckers, and the Huskies forced a combined seven turnovers against USC after finishing the first half with seven points.

“That’s KK’s role and that’s what she does for us,” Bueckers said. “She brings a different intensity off the bench, a different spark off the bench. You saw it on defense, but just the way she drives in transition makes for easy baskets for us. The game turned around when she came into the game with her ball pressure, her passing lanes and her defensive intensity, so she was a person who sparked that run in the second half.”

The teams traded baskets early in the fourth quarter until the Huskies made four straight field goals with six minutes to play, cutting the Trojans’ lead to just one point. The arena exploded as Morgan Cheli fired a 3-pointer that made it a one-possession game, and Bueckers added another signature jump shot to bring UConn within a point and force a USC timeout.

The back-and-forth continued as USC struggled to maintain its suddenly slim lead. UConn briefly took the lead with more than five minutes left, then tied the game with less than three minutes left and cut the deficit to one point in the final 30 seconds as the Trojans responded again and again. Strong had a chance to tie the game with five seconds left after committing a foul on Watkins from the 3-point line, but she only hit one of her free throws and the Huskies were unable to repel a final shot attempt despite being at the second missed shot secured the rebound.

“Some people run from the flame, others run towards it. (Sarah) wants to be in that situation,” Auriemma said. “She is enjoying this situation. No one is as disappointed in that moment as she is, but I would put her in that moment in every single game for the rest of the season and I’m confident you know she’ll get there.”

Originally published: December 21, 2024 at 10:13 pm EST