Women’s March Madness 2025: Azzi Fudd’s first-half brilliance sparks UConn’s dominant Final Four win over UCLA

TAMPA, Fla. — UConn was 1,300 miles away from Storrs, Conn. on Friday, but the Huskies took over their Final Four game against UCLA like they were playing at home. Geno Auriemma’s team crushed UCLA 85-51 in the most lopsided win in Final Four history. 

Multiple contributors emerged in the rout, but it all started with Azzi Fudd.

Just a week ago, Paige Bueckers put her arm around Fudd while they celebrated their Elite Eight win over USC in Spokane, Wash. and asked if she was saving all her shots for Tampa. While it was a joke, Bueckers’ words became reality.

Fudd was the spark UConn used to pull away in the first half with 19 points on 7 of 11 from the field. That was already a significantly better performance than what she did in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, as she scored a combined 18 points in those game while going 7 of 27 from the floor. 

UConn entered halftime with a 42-22 lead, and that 20-point advantage was something UCLA was not able to recover from.

“Azzi deserves all the credit for what she did tonight, but as a team we just wanted to instill that confidence in her,” Bueckers said. “We all believe in her, the coaching staff believes in her. If you see her shoot, the whole country and everyone alive should believe in her.

“… It’s extremely important to keep things light. There can be so many pressures and things that get in the way of what we play for, and that is joy, passion and to have fun, and to be out there with each other. To keep each other light, to keep each other up and motivated, I think is very important.”

Bueckers said the team was not looking back at Spokane, and instead they approached the Final Four as a whole new tournament. Fudd said her goal going into Friday’s game was to come in and be aggressive.

“Having teammates that are always on you to shoot the ball makes it pretty easy,” Fudd said. “When they’re giving me great looks, setting me great screens, giving me great passes — it also makes it really easy. Staying aggressive tonight, my teammates made it extremely easy for me to get the ball when I was wide open. So thanks to them.”

Fudd was scoreless in the second half, but freshman Sarah Strong took over with 10 points in the third quarter, and eventually finished the night with 22 points and eight rebounds. 

Bueckers, Fudd and Strong have been the three go-to players for the Huskies this season, and with Strong being just a freshman, even her own teammates are surprised by what she is able to do.

“Sarah is an incredible player, but I think that’s something that impresses me the most about her is just how mature she plays and how even-keeled she is,” Fudd said. “You can never know if she’s got 20 points and 20 rebounds, you wouldn’t be able to tell.”

As for Bueckers, she has been playing some of the best basketball of her career during the NCAA Tournament, but had less on her shoulders Friday because Fudd gave UConn momentum early on — although Bueckers still contributed 16 points, five rebounds and two assists. 

“If Paige had 16 last year, we wouldn’t have made it to the Final Four,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “If she had the game she had today the previous year, it would be almost impossible for us to win. And yet today, you know, look what happened.”

UConn will take on South Carolina in Sunday’s national championship game at 3 p.m. ET.