Strong carries No. 6 UConn until Bueckers finds her touch in 2nd half of 72-61 win over Creighton

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Sarah Strong had her fifth double-double of the season with 26 points and 12 rebounds, Paige Bueckers scored 19 of her 22 points in the second half, and No. 6 UConn beat Creighton 72-61 Saturday in a battle for the Big East lead.

The Huskies (19-2, 10-0) won their ninth straight and 30th in a row in Big East regular-season play. The Bluejays (16-4, 8-1) lost for the first time in eight games.

Strong had 16 points in the first half and made all eight of her free throws in the game and had five steals and four blocks.

Morgan Maly and Molly Mogensen each scored 14 points to lead the Bluejays. Brooke Littrell added 12 points.

The game was moved from the Bluejays’ 3,000-seat on-campus arena to the 18,000-seat CHI Health Center. The attendance of 11,141 was a school record.

Strong carries No. 6 UConn until Bueckers finds her touch in 2nd half of 72-61 win over Creighton | iNFOnews.ca — Creighton’s Brooke Littrell (33) goes up for a layup past UConn’s Sarah Strong during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, in Omaha, Neb. (Niko Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP)

Takeaways

UConn: The Huskies shot a season-low 40% and had trouble getting Bueckers going. Strong, a leading candidate for national freshman of the year, carried the Huskies until Bueckers started finding her shots in the second half.

Creighton: The Bluejays disrupted UConn’s offense early, but got sloppy late in the first half and the game got away from them. They dropped to 0-10 all-time against UConn.

Key moment

UConn forced back-to-back turnovers midway through the second quarter, with Kaitlyn Chen and Strong making steals at midcourt and going in for uncontested layups during a 15-2 run that put the Huskies up 33-19 at halftime.

Key stat

The Bluejays came in sixth in the country with an average of 11 turnovers per game. They committed 12 in just the first half and finished with 18. UConn converted them into 17 points.