Lucy Olsen’s “Nova” is excellent. However, Paige Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards’ UConn team ends up being superior.
Villanova’s Wednesday loss to Connecticut had numerous causes. Maybe one of them was from somewhere else in the Philadelphia region.
Four nights prior, Hannah Hidalgo’s Notre Dame, a freshman wonder from South Jersey, decked the Huskies at home. It’s likely that UConn wasn’t going to allow a run of defeats to continue.
The following forty-three points came from the Pavilion floor, when UConn’s top players, forward Aaliyah Edwards and guard Paige Bueckers, combined for an 81-60 victory. Edwards had 22 and Bueckers 21.
Even casual fans of women’s collegiate basketball may be familiar with Bueckers from her incredible early seasons, which she missed the final season due to an ACL tear. With 20 points per game on 54.8% shooting, including 47.4% from three-point range, along with 4.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.3 steals, she is fully back.
And with so much stardom across women’s college basketball, Bueckers might be flying under the radar.
How can that be for someone who was the national player of the year as a freshman? Well, that was three years ago and in the midst of the pandemic. Even her run to the 2022 title game feels like a long time ago.
“The problem with coaching somebody like Paige is your expectations are so high that you don’t truly appreciate how many great things she does,” said UConn coach Geno Auriemma.
With Bueckers out of the picture, Caitlin Clark’s notoriety skyrocketed, making the Iowa sensation the star of the show. However, Bueckers’ present ranking is lower for causes other than her own.
It’s no accident that UConn comes in at number eleven in the most recent AP poll. The Huskies behind not only Clark’s Hawkeyes but also those of Angel Reese’s LSU, Cameron Brink’s Stanford, Kamilla Cardoso’s South Carolina, and other elite teams including UCLA, N.C. State, and Ohio State, who all defeated Clark. The top 11 clubs from coast to coast come from six conferences.
“Nova mounts a defense”
Villanova had a ranking earlier in the campaign. The squad will play all four quarters of its next games at the same level as it did the first two on Wednesday.
The Wildcats’ leading scorer, Lucy Olsen, scored 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting to cut the deficit to only 37-36 at the half. With Nika Mühl, the two-time Big East defensive player of the year, defending her, she scored five points in the last minutes of the half.
Ultimately, UConn’s skill, particularly Edwards’, proved to be too much. She was simply too strong for Villanova to stop once she had the ball. Because of her teammates’ firepower, she was able to shoot 9 out of 13 from the field against a defense that was unable to double-team her.
Aaliyah Edwards is undoubtedly a formidable opponent, according to Wildcats coach Denise Dillon. “She has shown herself to be the best post player in the nation.”
Dawn Staley of North Philadelphia and South Carolina may differ on Cardoso’s behalf, but that’s a discussion for another time. (A day that could come quickly as the Gamecocks host UConn on February 11). There’s no doubt that senior Edwards will play in the WNBA later this season. The most recent mock draft by ESPN projects her to go to the Washington Mystics, who last season featured Wilmington’s Elena Delle Donne and St. Joseph’s graduate Natasha Cloud, at No. 6 overall.
Across the floor, Olsen showed why she might join them in the pros some day. She had a team-high 15 points on 6-of-17 shooting. Scouts knew what they saw when the junior drove hard around Mühl to score a layup-and-one to start the third quarter, giving Villanova a brief lead.
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