The Huskies survived a furious third quarter surge from the Rebels to claim the Baha Mar Women’s Championship.
UConn women’s basketball held off a furious comeback from the No. 18 Ole Miss Rebels to claim the 2024 Baha Mar Women’s Championship with a 73-60 victory.
The Huskies led by as many as 22 in the first half but Ole Miss roared back in the third quarter and pulled within three. Then, Azzi Fudd — in just her third back back from a torn ACL — stepped up with 12 second-half points. UConn got the lead back over double-digits early in the fourth and kept it there to secure the win.
Fudd finished with 18 points — her highest total since March 20, 2023 — and earned a spot on the all-tournament team. Paige Bueckers led the team with 29 points but had an uncharacteristic five turnovers. She was still named the MVP of the Baha Mar Women’s Championship after averaging 26.0 points in The Bahamas.
Jana El Alfy made some big plays down the stretch en route to an eight-point, nine-rebound night. Sarah Strong had 10 points, all of which came in the first half.
As a team, UConn turned the ball over a season-high 18 points but won the rebounding battle 37-30 and out-scored the Rebels 48-18 in the paint.
UConn came out strong with a 17-3 run to open the game. The lead ballooned to as many as 22 in the first half as the Huskies dominated down low by scoring 30 of their 37 first-half points in the paint.
Down the other end, Ole Miss couldn’t do much right on offense. The Rebels made just one of their first 13 from the field, missed 11 straight shots at one point and made just five baskets through the opening 20 minutes.
At the half, UConn held a 37-18 lead.
Then Ole Miss woke up. The Rebels started the third quarter on a 13-4 run to cut the gap down to 10 points, which prompted Geno Auriemma to take a timeout. It didn’t do much to stop the bleeding as the Rebels scored another seven points to make it a one possession game at 41-38.
That’s as close as they’d get. Fudd hit a big 3-pointer to end the run and followed it up with another jumper to push the gap back to eight. After trading baskets, Bueckers drilled a contested shot at the buzzer to give the Huskies a six-point lead entering the fourth quarter.
UConn quickly pushed it out to 10 points with a 5-0 burst at the start of the final period, which all but put the game away. The Rebels never got closer than nine after that and the Huskies walked away with a 13-point win.
Next, UConn will return home to face Holy Cross on Tuesday, Dec. 3. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET at Gampel Pavilion.