Paige Bueckers showed little signs of rust after missing two games with a sprained left knee.
“I feel good,” Bueckers said after Wednesday night's 71-45 loss to No. 6 UW-St. John's at Carnesecca Arena. “I'm really happy to be back on the field. Obviously, it's my first game back from just wanting to get my feet moving. Just the feeling of playing basketball again, the physicality, the speed, the feeling.”
The Buccaneers scored 12 points in 23 minutes.
She went 1-for-4 in the first half when UW held a 15-point lead, but the All-American struggled to find a guard shot during a shaky opening 20 minutes.
“Whenever you take a day off, you always have a little bit of a hiccup going into the game, and the way the game started, it looked like she just picked up where she left off,” Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said. say. Said. “Then you start to see her start to drift and she doesn't have the stamina to keep her foot on the gas like she usually does. So she spends part of the first half just walking around and we don't get enough shots of her. I couldn't take a picture.”
After UW briefly cut its lead to 11 points early in the third quarter, the Buccaneers hit three midrange jumpers in about 3 1/2 minutes to push the lead to 48-27 and secure a spot on the bench. Look at number four.
“We changed a few things and all of a sudden, bang, bang, bang,” Auriemma said. “So I've never doubted what Paige can do to impact the game, because I've seen it over and over again. But if she just puts her in there and presses a button, it's automatic.” I also know that I'm not a robot.
The Buccaneers returned from an absence with wins over Xavier and Georgetown and enter Sunday's game against Seton Hall six seconds away from becoming UConn's 12th 2,000-point scorer.
Bueckers is approaching the milestone with 101 games remaining and will become the fastest Huskies to reach 2,000 points, surpassing Maya Moore.
During the Buccaneers' 83-52 win over the Huskies against Villanova on Jan. 5, Wildcats freshman guard Jasmine Bascoe was injured when she dove for a loose ball and landed on her left foot.
Buccaneer limped off the court with 1:17 left in the third quarter and did not return.
Bueckers was named Varsity Player of the Year as a freshman, but injuries limited him to just 17 games over the next two seasons.
She started 54 games over the past two seasons before her brief absence.
