Minnesota native Paige Bueckers dropped 31 points, including her team’s final 13, to lead No. 2 UConn to a 63-59 overtime win over top-ranked South Carolina Monday.
The freshman guard from Hopkins scored nine points in overtime, including a 3-pointer that bounced high off the back of the rim and in to give the Huskies the four-point margin with 10 seconds left in the extra frame.
The thriller came just hours after after the Gamecocks and Huskies earned the top two spots in The Associated Press women’s college basketball poll. Aliyah Boston had 17 points and 15 rebounds for South Carolina (15-2).
For Bueckers, considered the nation's number one recruit in 2020, topping 30 is becoming somewhat of a regular thing. It's her third straight game in the 30s, and she seems on track to become the next UConn women's basketball legend in a long line of them. In fact, she is the first Huskies player to score 30 or more in three straight games.
"I went to UConn to play in huge games like this. Obviously the crowd wasn't there, but just having my family there to watch me and put that UConn jersey on, it's the first time my dad has seen it live," Bueckers said. "It was really fun out there."
Paige Bueckers has started and appeared in 13 games this season, and leads UConn in points, assists, steals and three-point field goal percentage. She's scored in double digits in all of this season's games but one, and has been named BIG EAST Freshman of the Week six times.
