OMAHA, Neb. — Led by red-hot Paige Buecker's 24 points, No. 12 UConn crushed its second straight ranked conference opponent and its fourth Top 25 team, rolling to a 94-50 win over No. 21 Creighton on Wednesday night.
The Huskies (11-3, 3-0 Big East) jumped on the Bluejays early, much as they did against previously undefeated Marquette on Sunday en route to a 31-point win.
UConn made 11 of 14 shots in the first quarter compared to 4 of 15 for the Bluejays and the Huskies led 27-14. Bueckers had the first nine points of a 14-0 run in the second quarter and the Huskies led by as many as 28 and took a 53-29 advantage into halftime.
Aaliyah Edwards had 16 points and 11 rebounds for her sixth double-double in seven games and the two freshmen who have helped the Huskies get back on track, Ashlynn Shade and KK Arnold, had 18 and 17 points, respectively.
Bueckers finished 8-of-12 shooting, including 4 of 5 3-pointers and made all four of her free throws. She also had seven assists, five rebounds and four steals with just one turnover. She is 8 of 11 behind the arc in her last two games.
UConn won its seventh straight after starting the season 4-3, losing to teams that were or are now Top 10 teams. But as injuries contributed to that start, the injury bug struck again as Aubrey Griffin went down in the third quarter with a leg injury contesting a Creighton layup attempt and had to be helped off the court.
Emma Ronsiek had 13 points and Lauren Jensen added 12 for the Bluejays (10-3, 1-2), who were outrebounded 45-29 and shot just 25%. A team that averages nine 3s and 75 points a game were just 4 of 24 from long range.
Bueckers had 16 points as the Huskies shot 65.6% (19 of 29) in the first half, going 6 of 8 from 3-point range. Jensen was the only Bluejay to have much success, scoring 10.
UConn cooled off to 7 of 18 in the third quarter (39%), going 1 of 6 from long distance, but the Bluejays were just 2 of 10 and only went into the fourth quarter down 77-44 because they made 10 of 13 free throws.
A 14-2 start to the fourth led to a 20-6 advantage and the 44-point margin of victory.
UConn goes to Georgetown on Sunday. Creighton plays at DePaul on Saturday.
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