Evina Westbrook scored 13 points, Aaliyah Edwards added 12 points and No. 6 UConn put forth another dominant defensive effort to beat Villanova 70-40 in the Big East championship game Monday night.
It was the 20th Big East tournament championship for UConn, which avenged a loss last month to the Wildcats. That three-point defeat ended UConn’s 169-game conference winning streak dating to 2013.
UConn (25-5) only had eight healthy players for that game. Now the Huskies are healthy and coach Geno Auriemma has one of his deepest teams over the past two decades.
That includes bringing national player of the year Paige Bueckers off the bench. Bueckers is coming off a left knee injury in December. She finished with two points.
Conference player of the year Maddy Siegrist led the Wildcats (23-8) with 16 points.
NO. 15 BYU 59, PORTLAND 52
Shaylee Gonzales scored 20 points, Paisley Harding added 14 and BYU beat Portland in the West Coast Conference tournament semifinals.
Top-seeded BYU (26-2) avenged its only conference loss this season, 75-64 at Portland on Feb. 3. The Cougars will try to win their first WCC tournament championship since 2019 when they face second-seeded Gonzaga on Tuesday.
Tegan Graham had 11 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for BYU.
Maisie Burnham scored 12 of her 17 points in the first half and Alex Fowler had 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for Portland (19-10).
More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25