NFL
By: Ty Reeves
The No. 2 UConn Huskies defeated No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks in an overtime thriller at Gampel Arena. UConn was led by star freshman Paige Bueckers, who finished with 31 points on the night. South Carolina was led by Aliyah Boston who scored 17 points in the loss.
UCONN WINS IN OT‼️
The No. 2 Huskies rallied for a tough win over No. 1 South Carolina.
Paige Bueckers dropped 31 points and snatched 6 steals 😤 pic.twitter.com/94H63WYrF9
— ESPN (@espn) February 9, 2021
The game started off as a back and forth contest with South Carolina taking a slender advantage. The two teams had their fair share of baskets but the Gamecocks would go into the second quarter with a small 14-10 lead over the Huskies.
The second quarter was more of the same as the teams traded buckets throughout the quarter. The Huskies would claim their first lead of the game with 1:02 remaining after an Aubrey Griffin layup gave UConn a 21-20 lead. The lead would not hold as the sides would go into halftime tied with 24 apiece. Both teams struggled to score in the first half as neither team shot over 40% from the field with UConn making the only 3-pointer of the game for either side.
In the second half, the game started to flow, especially for Bueckers. The freshman scored 10 points in the third to help give her team a 45-41 lead going into the final quarter of play, or what we thought was going to be the final quarter of play.
In the fourth, it seemed as though the Huskies were going to grow their lead at the start of the quarter when freshman Nika Muhl hit a 3-pointer to grow the UConn lead to seven. UConn’s offense would stagnate as the Gamecocks would claw themselves back into the game and the lead when Junior Victoria Saxton’s made jump shot gave South Carolina a 52-50 lead with 3:27 remaining in the game. Boston would then score again to put the Gamecocks up four with 2:43 seconds remaining.
However, it wasn’t over the Huskies as Bueckers would take the game into her own hands. She would score twice in 49 seconds to tie the game up. The Gamecocks would have a chance to end the game with nine seconds remaining when Boston had two looks in front of the basket. She would miss both shots and the game would go into overtime.
Each team would trade blows during overtime as the lead changed three times. South Carolina would take a 57-56 lead after a Boston layup. The lead would then grow to 59-56 after Destanni Henderson made a layup with 2:00 minutes remaining.
The last two minutes were the Paige Bueckers show. The freshman hit back-to-back jump shots to give the Huskies a one-point lead. She would then ice the game with a buzzer-beater with 13 seconds remaining to secure UConn’s win over the No. 1 ranked Gamecocks.
PAIGE. GETS. BUCKETS.@paigebueckers1 gets the bounce in OT to seal the win for @UConnWBB 🔥 pic.twitter.com/yMqfZj0TUq
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) February 9, 2021
