Geno Auriemma has coached numerous stars during his tenure as the UConn women’s basketball coach, but he has never had one compile 2,000 career points faster than Paige Bueckers.
Bueckers reached the milestone in the second quarter of Sunday’s 96-36 route of Seton Hall at Gampel Pavilion, doing so in just her 102nd game. That broke the 15-year-old record held by Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Maya Moore, who did it in 108 games.
Bueckers scored 18 points to go with seven assists as UConn improved to 17-2 overall and 8-0 in the Big East. Freshman Sarah Strong scored a team-high 23 points while Azzi Fudd added 18, but the story of the night was Bueckers’ milestone in front of a crowd that included UConn’s first 2,000-point scorer, Kerry Bascom.
“To be able to put that many points on the board in that short period of time is one tremendous accomplishment,” Auriemma said, per the Hartford Courtan. “To be able to do it in spite of the ups and downs and the missing an entire season and a third of another season, to stay mentally locked in and to stay positive and to still be committed to putting the work in, there’s a lot that goes into being able to be out there and make the shots that she makes, given what she’s been through.
“I don’t know too many people that work at the game as hard or as often as she does, so I’m glad that she she’s being rewarded.”
Bueckers reached the milestone during a three-minute span that saw her score six points, but was focused on the team performance after the game.
“It was a full team effort today, and I think that’s huge in terms of continuing to build the chemistry and continuing to build what we look like as a unit,” Bueckers said. “It’s been hard. Obviously, Azzi had a period of being out. I had my period of being out, but just with more reps, more games, and just continuing, even in practice, getting more reps in I think is really huge. This is more of what we want it to look like every single night.”
–Field Level Media
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