OAN Staff Abril Elfi
5:40 PM – Monday, April 7, 2025
The UConn Huskies have won their 12th national championship title in the Women’s March Madness championship.
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On Sunday, the No. 2 seed Huskies won 82-58 against No. 1 seed South Carolina — earning their 12th championship title for the first time in nine years.
“I thank all of my former players that are here,” Head coach Geno Auriemma said. “You know when you cut down the nets, and everybody gets a little piece of it? I wish we had enough nets that all of them got a piece of it because that’s how much they mean to us.”
Sending senior guard Paige Bueckers, who is expected to be the WNBA’s No. 1 draft pick on April 14th, expressed during her postgame press conference that the moment was “extremely validating.”
“We feel like we were so connected, and nothing could break us,” Bueckers said in the postgame press conference. “We’ve been through a lot — on our own, as a team — so we feel like nothing that life or basketball can throw at us could ever break us and make us separate. To be able to … share this moment is extremely validating.”
She went on to add that everyone needs to “stand firm on who you are.”
“There’s people that doubt you because they think you’re doing it on your strength alone,” Bueckers said during the interview. “We lean on God’s strength here, and through God’s power, for God’s purposes. We’re not doing this alone.”
“It’s destiny and obviously I have a great faith, so I believe God planned it perfectly in the way that it went out.”
Bueckers returned last season and guided UConn to the Final Four, where they lost to Iowa by two points. Nevertheless, she still expressed gratitude to God in a postgame interview following their Elite Eight triumph over USC.
“Just so much gratitude. I’m a living testimony,” Bueckers told ESPN. “I give all glory to God. He works in mysterious ways. Last year, I was praying to be back at this stage. He sent me trials and tribulations, but it was to build my character. It was to test my faith to see if I was only a believer in the good times. I just kept on believing. I did all I could so God could do all I can’t.”
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