MONTVILLE, Conn. — A dominant effort in the paint and on the glass led the Big East Tournament No.1 UConn to a commanding 81-52 win over Marquette to advance to the championship.
This will be the Huskies' 26th Big East Championship appearance.
Aaliyah Edwards continued to show why she's one of the best bigs in the country posting an impressive 20 points and 12 rebounds, five of those on the offensive glass.
"I can't say enough about Aaliyah Edwards, I feel she's one of the most improved players in the country," said Marquette Head Coach Megan Duffy.
Dorka Juhasz and Lou Lopez Senechal added a big effort scoring 14 points each.
Nika Muhl also recorded 10 assists during the game which tied a single-game record for assists in a Big East Tournament game.
"I've really enjoyed this year with Nika," said Head Coach Geno Auriemma. "She never wants to stop competing."
Muhl said she remembered losing to Marquette earlier in the regular season and that motivated her to keep up the intensity.
"We have a great edge to us when the games matter," said Muhl. "I'm so proud of my team and we're just gonna keep bringing it."
Auriemma also thought back to the previous loss to Marquette and said that loss was their lowest point, so Sunday's performance was a huge contrast.
"I don't get too excited about games in February, I worry more about, 'are we getting better so that we can play well in March?'" said Auriemma. "Playing a tournament game in March, that's a whole different mindset that you have to have."
Azzi Fudd who made her anticipated return on Saturday in the quarterfinals was quiet in Sunday's game only playing 20 minutes, scoring two points, and shooting 1-6 from the floor. It will be key to see how she'll play as her minutes increase into the NCAA Tournament.
Auriemma said he doesn't plan on managing Fudd's minutes or Caroline Ducharme's minutes, who's also been battling with injury.
The Huskies started the game out hot jumping to an 11-4 lead by forcing turnovers on the defensive end that led to easy buckets. Marquette started getting going knocking down a couple of three's keep pace but Edwards and Juhasz's dominance in the paint kept them ahead.
In the second, more strong action on the glass and paint scoring allowed the Huskies to pull away even further. They shot 50% from the field for the quarter despite continued poor three-point shooting which carried over from their Georgetown game.
Aubrey Griffin was stellar on the defensive end all half recording three steals, one coming straight off of an inbound play that wowed the crowd. That defense helped UConn take a 15-point lead to close out the quarter.
"When Aubrey is like that, there really isn't much on the basketball court that she can't get accomplished," said Auriemma. "Hopefully her confidence level is really high right now."
UConn led Marquette 37-22 at the half.
The Huskies' dominance in the paint and on the glass carried over into the third quarter. Edwards got six boards off the glass alone and the team recorded three blocks. They repeated the same efficiency around the rim shooting above 50% from the interior.
Some of the UConn roster that hadn't seen much action got time in the fourth as Ines Bettencourt and Amari DeBerry both scored a basket much to the delight of the Huskies faithful that gave them much-deserved applause.
There wasn't much trouble in this one as the Huskies coasted to another easy victory and are now set to Villanova on Monday night at 7 p.m.
Daniel Dashefsky is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at ddashefsky@fox61.com.
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