UConn Women Bring Home 12th National Title To Raucous Welcome

STORRS, CT — Monday was a day to celebrate the University of Connecticut's 12th national women's basketball title.

UConn defeated South Carolina 82-59 Sunday in the national championship game and, after a night of celebrating and presumably some sleep, it was time to head home. Well-wishers cheered the Huskies' motorcade after it arrived from Tampa at the airport to Route 195 in Tolland and eventually to a raucous rally at Gampel Pavilion.

There was also a speech in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Here are some images of the festivities:

A bit earlier in the day, on the House Floor, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (CT-02) celebrated UConn's title.

He said, "Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate a stunning dominant victory by the UConn women's basketball team yesterday over a very good University of South Carolina team by a margin of 23 points, which actually is lower than really where it was for most of the second half.

"It's an amazing group of women student-athletes who, again, rose to the occasion to take the UConn women's basketball program into further heights with its 12th national title. A record which — all records are made to be broken, but it is hard to even imagine any other school's team that could come close to 12 national titles."

Here is his full speech:

"Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate a stunning dominant victory by the UConn women's basketball team yesterday over a very good University of South Carolina team by a margin of 23 points, which actually is lower than really where it was for most of the second half.

"It's an amazing group of women student-athletes who, again, rose to the occasion to take the UConn women's basketball program into further heights with its 12th national title. A record which — all records are made to be broken, but it is hard to even imagine any other school's team that could come close to 12 national titles.

"They were led by Paige Bueckers, who, again, is going to be one of the greats in the history of college basketball. She scored 17 points, had numerous rebounds, and steals, blocks. She's had every award imaginable as a college basketball player — the ESPY award, John Wooden award, Naismith Award — but winning that trophy, which so far had eluded her, is just a storybook way for her career at the University of Connecticut to finish.

"She was joined by Azzi Fudd, who is a Junior. 24 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists. She was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, which is really saying something when she has a teammate like Paige Bueckers.

"And lastly, a Freshman, Sarah Strong, who had 24 points, 15 rebounds. Over the course of the season, watching her grow as a player, playing with poise and maturity that defied someone of her young age was quite striking and amazing.

"Their starting lineup was rounded out by Jana El Alfy and Kaitlyn Chen, a portal transfer from Princeton University — with a deep bench, KK Arnold came out and provided lots of energy during the game. Just an amazing team led by an amazing coach, Geno Auriemma.

"In 2006, which is a long time ago, he already was named to the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, which usually is reserved for coaches after they’ve retired. But Geno keeps going on. Their last win was in [2016]. There were a lot of naysayers out there: 'Well, the UConn program has hit its peak.'

"In 2023, in USA Today, there was a headline, "UConn's dynasty is officially dead, and that's a good thing for basketball.” Well, that is probably the ultimate bulletin board material for someone like Geno Auriemma if you know him.

"But what's so striking about Geno is the loyalty of his players. He had all these former stars of the UConn program who have gone on to be at the WNBA who were all there yesterday in Tampa, Florida, rooting them on. And the same for the bench. He's an amazing leader and a really talented coach. John Wooden, the legendary coach, never got 12 national titles during his time. So to Coach Auriemma, congratulations to you and the team.

"We have here the College Basketball Capital of the World because if you add on the six national titles that the men's program has actually accumulated since 1999, I was there for the first one, it was like a religious experience as a UConn fan and UConn Law School graduate, its total is 18. That’s same as the Boston Celtics have in the NBA and the Los Angeles Lakers have 18 titles as well. 18 titles for a land-grant University in rural Connecticut, again, just defies any conventional wisdom about big, high-paying university programs. They just keep getting it done.

"And Coach Hurley, who coaches the men's team, was rooting on Geno and the women as loudly as anyone. It's just a great university sports program that brings everybody together. And we are so proud of them, particularly in the Second Congressional District which I have the honor to represent, the amazing University campus in Storrs and also at Avery Point.

"Well done. Bravo. Kudos to all of you. Just watching them celebrate on the court last night was so exciting for all of us from Connecticut and from all across the country where many of these players come from. I was texting with the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, which is the home of Paige Bueckers, and he was as happy as anyone in Connecticut to see her great victory.

"With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time."