No. 3 UConn women avoid 1st 2-game skid since ’93, top UCLA

By MATT SUGAM
Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Third-ranked UConn struggled again without star Paige Bueckers but managed to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time since 1993, holding off UCLA 71-61. Dorka Juhasz had 16 points and 16 rebounds for UConn and Evina Westbrook added 17 points. The Huskies are 6-2. They led by 14 points with 1:20 left, but UCLA got within four points. Bueckers, the reigning national player of the year, fractured her knee last Sunday in a win over Notre Dame and the school said she will be out for six to eight weeks. In their first game without her, the Huskies lost to unranked Georgia Tech on Thursday. UConn hasn’t lost two straight since March 1993, before coach Geno Auriemma built the team into a perennial national power. Charisma Osbornes scored 26 points for UCLA, which is 5-3.