SPOKANE, WASHINGTON – MARCH 31: The UConn Huskies celebrate after defeating the USC Trojans 78-64 in … More the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at Spokane Arena on March 31, 2025 in Spokane, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Getty Images
UConn moves on to their 24th Final Four after defeating No. 1 seed USC, 78-64. For the Huskies, this will be their 16th Final Four appearance in the past 17 NCAA Tournaments.
Interestingly, in the loss, the Trojans had 12 second chance points to the Huskies five, eight less turnovers, and completely dominated the boards, out rebounding UConn 42 to 31. For UConn, it was the scoring off 17 fast break points and the dominance of freshman forward Sarah Strong with 22 points and 17 rebounds and 15 points from graduate guard Kaitlyn Chen assisting graduate guard Paige Bueckers’ 31 points that allowed the Huskies to push over the finish line.
Bueckers once again had a standout night and similar to Saturday night’s game against No. 7 Oklahoma, it took her a minute for her to find her groove and get into gear as USC held her to two points in the first quarter. However in the second quarter she scored 11 points, going into the half on two back-to-back three pointers to an eruption from the crowd, and a score of 39-25.
Bueckers would come out in the second half and remain fairly quiet in the third quarter only scoring five points. However, when the lights are on Bueckers tends to shine the brightest, as USC rallied to pull within five points at the end of the third to close a 19 point gap. This rally for USC fueled Bueckers to score 11 points and assist on three other shots to graduate guard Azzi Fudd who would sink two crucial three pointers down the stretch to give UConn the ammunition it needed to take the win, 78-64.
After the game when the trophy was awarded to the Huskies it was also announced that Strong and Bueckers were named to the Spokane Regional 4 All-Region Team and Bueckers was named MVP.
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON – MARCH 31: Paige Bueckers #5 of the UConn Huskies interacts with fan after … More defeating the USC Trojans 78-64 in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at Spokane Arena on March 31, 2025 in Spokane, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Getty Images
In the post game interview, head coach Geno Auriemma not only praised Bueckers and Strong, but Chen as the key elements in their success saying, “And as we said, there’s a way that you win these games and generally speaking they are on the backs of one or two particular players that are going to put the team on their backs and get us to the next level, to get us to the Final Four, and obviously Sarah and Paige both did that tonight in their own way. And you couldn’t ask any more of them, they both played 40 minutes and they both played their hearts out. But like anything else, somebody else has to step up and I thought Kaitlyn was fantastic tonight…So these three guys deserve all the credit that you want to give them and obviously we will be and obviously we would be going home without the three of them.”
USC Trojan Seniors and Post Game Reflections
Despite the loss, the Trojans fought throughout the entire game. Senior forward Rayah Marshall who saw her career come to a close scored 23 points and 15 rebounds as well as Oregon State transfer Talia von Oelhoffen who scored 10 points. Senior transfer forward Kiki Irafen also contributed 10 points and six rebounds.
In speaking of the impact of Marshall after the game, Oelhoffen emotionally emphasized her impact, “For Rayah she’s just been the heart and soul of this team and I’m really proud of how she showed up today, she gave this game everything she had and rallied us all together in that third quarter run, that was all her. And so she’s been our rock all year, so I am happy that she had a game like that, I am disappointed that we couldn’t get that win for her. But, yeah, she’s been a huge part of building this program and our success this year and like Lindsay said, every year going forward.”
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON – MARCH 31: Rayah Marshall #13 of the USC Trojans reacts during the first half … More against the UConn Huskies in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at Spokane Arena on March 31, 2025 in Spokane, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Getty Images
It would be remised to not address the gapping wound that the Trojans had tonight without superstar and National Player of the Year contender JuJu Watkins, who one week ago last night tore her ACL in USC’s second round game against Mississippi State.
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON – MARCH 31: A detail view of the bobblehead of JuJu Watkins #12 of the USC … More Trojans during the game against the UConn Huskies in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at Spokane Arena on March 31, 2025 in Spokane, Washington. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb mentioned Watkins’s absence but also the fight of her team in the opening statement of the press conference last night, “We lost a National Player of the Year probable one week ago today and we’ve won two NCAA tournament games, second and Sweet 16 rounds because they really became a team and I was just very proud of the way that we competed tonight. I think you saw the heart and character of our team on display and I’m disappointed for them that we don’t get to go to Tampa and get two more games, but I’m not sad with the way this group represented themselves and I think our senior class is really, really special.”
The Final Four games are now set in Tampa with Texas and South Carolina set for their fourth rematch Friday, April 4 at 7 pm ET on ESPN and UCLA and UConn playing right after at 9 pm ET on ESPN.
