UConn women’s basketball throttles Marquette in Big East semifinal, 81-52

UConn women’s basketball advanced to its 19th consecutive conference tournament championship by destroying the Marquette Golden Eagles, 81-52. The Huskies have now won their first two postseason contests by an average of 29.5 points after their final 10 regular season games were decided by 30 points.

Both UConn’s bigs finished with a double-double for the second straight day. Aaliyah Edwards had 20 points and 12 rebounds while Dorka Juhász totaled 14 points and 11 rebounds. Nika Mühl also picked up her second career double-double with 11 points and 10 assists. Aubrey Griffin did it all, racking up 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and four steals while Lou Lopez Sénéchal piled on 14 points.

Azzi Fudd played 20 minutes in her second game back from injury, but still struggled to find her shot on a 2-for-7 day from the floor. Caroline Ducharme also returned after leaving Saturday’s game with an apparent head injury.

UConn out-scored Marquette 48-8 in the paint in the win and won the rebounding battle 45-32.

UConn started hot and opened the game on a 9-2 run. Marquette took a timeout to spot the bleeding and recovered to get back within four points, but never got any closer. The Huskies opened the lead up to eight after the first quarter and extended it to 13 early in the second after a three from Lopez Sénéchal.

From there, UConn’s offense hit its only speed bump of the day. The Huskies failed to score for over four minutes, which allowed Marquette to rip off eight straight points and pull back within five.

Juhász snapped the drought with a layup off an inbound and from there, UConn went right back to building its lead. The Huskies closed the half on a 12-2 run and took a 15-point advantage into the locker room — their largest of the day.

Marquette scored the first basket of the second half to get within 13 points, though it wouldn’t come any closer. UConn won the third quarter 24-14 to go up by 25, which all but put the game away. The Golden Eagles didn’t mount much of a comeback effort over the final 10 minutes as the Huskies came away with a 29-point victory.

Next, UConn will take on Villanova in the Big East championship on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET from Mohegan Sun Arena.