PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — The No. 2 UConn women’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the season, 73-57, to No. 1 South Carolina in the championship game of the inaugural Battle 4 Atlantis women’s basketball tournament in the Bahamas.
Paige Bueckers led the Huskies with 19 points, while Evina Westbrook contributed 14. South Carolina was led by Aliyah Boston (22 points, 15 rebounds) and Zia Cooke (17 points). The Gamecocks dominated the glass 42-25 and had 19 offensive rebounds, and buckled down defensively in the fourth to outscore the Huskies 16-3.
UConn is now 22-4 in 1-vs-2 games.
After falling behind early in the first quarter 6-0, the Huskies rattled off a 20-2 run to go up by 12. With the team largely running in transition, Bueckers and Westbrook got going offensively, and the latter’s four-point play at the 4:55 mark not only extended UConn’s lead to five but sent Cooke to the bench in foul trouble. Olivia Nelson-Ododa came up huge with some timely blocks and by drawing a charge.
South Carolina answered by scoring the final six points of the frame before UConn’s 8-1 run at the beginning of the second put them back ahead by double figures. Thanks to their dominance on the offensive glass and UConn slowing down on offense, the Gamecocks ended the half on a 10-2 run to pull within three off Destanni Henderson’s layup.
South Carolina stormed ahead to start the second half, taking advantage of some bad UConn turnovers on inbounding plays to go up by six. Christyn Williams started looking to get to the rim, helping UConn pull within two.
Aaliyah Edwards, who struggled in the first half, came through with a big defensive rebound and take to the rim on the other end to briefly give UConn the lead again, but it was South Carolina who entered the fourth ahead following a 3 from Destiny Littleton. The Gamecocks scored six unanswered points to start the period and held UConn scoreless from the field from the 2:39 mark of the third until the 5:01 mark of the fourth, when Westbrook broke the drought with a 3. Littleton responded on the next play with one of her own, and Henderson hit two free throws that gave the Gamecocks an 11-point lead the Huskies could not erase.
