UNCASVILLE — After Villanova gave the UConn women’s basketball team its closest conference game of the season three weeks ago, the Huskies will get a chance at redemption in the Big East Tournament championship.
The No. 2-seed Wildcats advanced to the title game for the first time since 2023 with a 62-48 win over 3-seed Seton Hall in the semifinals at Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday. They face No. 1 UConn at 7 p.m. on Monday night with the Big East title on the line. The game will air exclusively on Peacock.
Villanova had a stellar defensive performance in its semifinal victory, scoring more than an third off its points off of 16 forced turnovers against the Pirates. Despite shooting 17.9% on 3-pointers, it held Seton Hall to just 3-for-16 from beyond the arc and 32.7% shooting from the field.
The Wildcats led wire-to-wire in the win, outscoring the Pirates 18-7 in the opening quarter and limiting them to just two made field goals. Seton Hall attempted to fight back into the game, trailing Villanova by just three points across the following three quarters combined, but the Wildcats hung onto the early cushion by leaning on their defense down the stretch. They kept Seton Hall scoreless for more than four minutes early in the fourth quarter, killing any chance the Pirates had to make a late run.
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Junior guard Brynn McCurry led Villanova with 16 points and logged four of the team’s 10 steals. Star guard Jasmine Bascoe, a unanimous first team All-Big East selection, added 15 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, and senior Denae Carter put up 11 points with a team-high seven rebounds.
Villanova is 0-2 against UConn this season, and the Huskies lead the all-time series 47-18, but the Wildcats challenged UConn in a way few teams did during the regular season. In the Feb. 18 matchup at Villanova, the Wildcats became the first Big East team to lead UConn at halftime since 2023 and remains the only team to do so this year. Bascoe and Carter are two of just four individuals to score at least 20 points against the Huskies in 2025-26, and Basoce led the Wildcats with 18 in the first half alone.
The undefeated Huskies are five-time defending champions in the Big East Tournament and will look to make it six in a row since rejoining the conference in 2020-21. UConn and Villanova have met for the Big East Championship twice in the last five seasons: The Huskies won 70-40 to claim the 2022 title and added a 67-56 win in the 2023 final.
UConn women’s basketball stars deliver to rout Creighton 100-51 in Big East Tournament semifinal