Paige Bueckers leads No. 3 UConn to Big East title game with 82-54 win over Villanova

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UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Paige Bueckers scored 21 of her 23 points in the first half and No. 3 UConn held Villanova without a field goal for more than 16 minutes to beat the Wildcats 82-54 on Sunday, advancing to the Big East championship game.

Sarah Strong added 20 points and 16 rebounds for the Huskies (30-3), who will be trying for their fifth consecutive Big East crown Monday night.

Bueckers put on a show for the huge crowd that included members of the Dallas Wings front office staff. The Wings have the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft next month. Bueckers scored from all over and helped UConn blow open a tight game toward the end of the first half.

UConn turned a four-point game into a 47-37 lead at the break.

Villanova (18-14), which was led by Maddie Webber's 15 points, couldn't get back within single digits the rest of the game.

Villanova:: The Wildcats have won 10 of their past 15 games with four of those losses coming against UConn and Creighton. Now they await a bid to a postseason tournament.

UConn: The Huskies advanced to the finals of the tournament for the 14th consecutive time. UConn last didn't make the Big East Tournament championship in 2004 excluding the seven years the school was in the American Athletic Conference from 2014-20.

UConn led 37-33 with 3:31 left in the second quarter before using a 22-4 spurt spanning the half to blow the game open. Strong had 11 points during the game-changing spurt.

Villanova didn't have a field goal in the second half until Ryanne Allen's jumper with 4:48 left in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats missed their first 16 shots, including all 11 of their attempts in the third quarter, as UConn blew the game open.

UConn plays Creighton for the championship Monday night.

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