UConn women’s basketball advances to Sweet 16 in 77-58 win over Baylor

UConn women’s basketball advanced to the Sweet 16 with a 77-58 win over the 7-seed Baylor Bears. The Huskies trailed by six after the first quarter but started the second on a 9-0 run to re-take the lead and never went behind again.

Azzi Fudd dropped 22 points — the most she’s scored since a 24-point effort against Iowa on Nov. 27 — and went off in the third quarter with 16 points. The rest of the team had just six points in that frame.

Aaliyah Edwards had 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting despite being limited to 24 minutes due to foul trouble. Nika Mühl reached double-digit assists for the second consecutive game with 11 while Aubrey Griffin dominated the glass with a team-high 11 rebounds and set a season-high with six offensive boards.

UConn jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead, but Baylor started hitting from deep. After the two sides went back and forth throughout the first seven minutes, the Bears scored 11 of the next 14 points — all but two of which came from behind the arc. They hit six triples in the opening quarter.

The Huskies’ defense locked down and got the Huskies back in the game. They took over as that sparked the offense, resulting in a 17-2 run to start the quarter. UConn pushed its lead up to nine, but after making one shot through five minutes in the second, Baylor regained its stroke from deep.

The Bears scored seven straight points and looked like they’d go into the half down just two until Mühl drilled a last-second heave from just inside half-court to send the Huskies into the locker room up 40-35.

Out of the break, the Bears whittled down UConn’s lead and eventually pulled even with 5:15 left in the quarter.

That’s when Fudd came alive. She scored back-to-back baskets as part of a 6-0 run from the Huskies. Minutes later she scored eight points in a 10-0 run that pushed the lead over 14 just five minutes after Baylor tied it.

UConn outscored the Bears 15-8 in the fourth quarter to pull away for the victory. The Huskies scored 11 of the final 14 points to come away with the 19-point win.

Next, UConn will head out to Seattle for its 29th consecutive Sweet Sixteen appearance, where they will take on 3-seed Ohio State on Saturday.