NCAA Women's Final Four: Paige Bueckers returns to Minneapolis where she shined as a prep

The road from high school girls basketball to the college game to the NCAA Tournament and, ultimately, the Final Four is long, bumpy and challenging. For at least eight prominent former prep stars, the trip this week to Minneapolis has been triumphant.

For 2019-20 MaxPreps National Basketball and Athlete of the Year Paige Bueckers, it's a journey back home.

The dynamic 5-foot-11 sophomore point guard for Connecticut prepped at Hopkins (Minnetonka, Minn.) which is about 10 miles from the Target Center. That's where the Huskies (29-5) will battle top-ranked Stanford (32-3) in Friday's semifinal. The other matchup pits South Carolina (33-2) and Louisville (29-4).

Coming back from knee surgery that sidelined her 19 games, Bueckers carried UConn to the big dance with a remarkable 27-point effort Monday night in a 91-87 double-overtime thriller over North Carolina State.

Bueckers, the 2020-21 College Player of the Year, hadn't looked like herself after the injury, but Monday she scored 15 of her points after regulation while making 10-of-15 shots overall.

"Thank God Paige came back, because she just gives everybody so much confidence," UConn coach Geno Auriemma told reporters afterward. "It was just an amazing basketball game and a great showcase for our sport."

UConn senior guard Chistyn Williams said while the game was in the balance: "I was thinking we have Paige Bueckers and they don't."

Bueckers tried to downplay the significance of playing back home, but then admitted otherwise. "Two days ago I said, ‘Win or go home,' but we won and I'm still going home," she said after the game. "This is crazy. I'm just so excited no matter the location, no matter where it is. … Being home is nice, too. I'm not going to lie."
There was no denying she was one of the greatest and most visible high school players in recent memory. As a senior, the ball-handling whirling dervish, compared to NBA Hall of Famer Pete Maravich for her flair and skill, averaged 21.4 points, 9.4 assists, 5.4 steals and 5.0 rebounds per game for the nation's No. 4 team.

Hopkins finished on a 62-game win streak, though her career and senior season was cut short two wins short of another state title due to the Covid pandemic. She scored 1,998 career points to go along with 563 assists, 487 rebounds and 405 steals.

Her style caught the attention of many, including NBA All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns, who would make special efforts to come see her play. She was the first girl ever to grace the cover of Slam Magazine.


Auriemma said of Bueckers before she even stepped on campus: "There are kids who play basketball, and then there are basketball players. She is a basketball player, born to be a basketball player. … She's a natural. … She just plays like 'This is my personal playground. When I get the ball, I can do whatever I want with it, and you can't stop me.' "

Bueckers isn't the only former MaxPreps National Player of the Year on her squad.


The 5-11 freshman is the Huskies' third-leading scorer at 12.7 points and leading 3-point shooter (57 of 131) at 43.5 percent.

More storylines of the Final 4 from players who made headlines on MaxPreps in high school: 
Louisville

Haley Van Lith — The sophomore from Cashmere (Wash.) offered the soundbite heard round the world following her fourth consecutive 20-point-plus game on Monday with a 62-50 win over Michigan. Van Lith earned MVP honors of the region.

Van Lith, who attended Kobe Bryant's Mamba youth camps and was befriended and trained by the late NBA Hall of Famer, was interviewed by ESPN's Christy Winters-Scott right after Monday's game. She was asked what Bryant might say to Van Lith at the moment. The former MaxPreps and McDonald's All-American wasn't bashful: "He would say ‘Go (expletive) win this (expletive) Hailey.' That's what he would say. ‘We're not done,' that's what he would say right there."

The 5-7 point guard averaged 24.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.8 steals per game as a freshman at Cashmere, leading her team to a state 1A state title. She recorded the program's first quadruple-double: 37 points, 14 steals, 10 rebounds and 10 assists as a sophomore, when her averages rose to 32 points, 8.3 rebounds, 7.3 steals and 5.2 assists per game.

As a junior Van Lith upped those numbers to 34.4, 8.8, 5.2 steals and 4.9 assists and was named state POY, and as a senior, she scored 46 points in a game to become the state career scoring leader. Van Lith committed to Louisville as a junior, but her best sport might have been softball as she held multiple Division I offers as an eighth-grader.

This season at Louisville, she leads the team in points (14.5 per game) and is third in assists.

Stanford

Fran Belibi — Considered the queen dunker of women's basketball, the 6-1 junior was the first girl to dunk in a Colorado high school game for Regis Jesuit (Aurora, Colo.). As a senior she was a MaxPreps and McDonald's All-American in 2019 when she averaged 21.8 points, 12.3 rebounds, 3.4 steals and 2.7 blocks per game.

Despite those credentials and winning three gold medals playing for U.S. junior teams, Belibi's fame was framed by her dunks, which are unique due to her 6-foot-5 wingspan and 31-inch vertical jump. On March 19, she had the third dunk in NCAA Women's Tournament history and as a key reserve, she averages 7.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.

The Hull sisters — Lexie Hull and Lacie Hull are well known twins from Central Valley (Spokane Valley, Wash.), which went 102-6 during their four-year careers, including 29-0 as seniors. They won the GEICO High School nationals that season by defeating Hamilton Heights Christian Academy (Chattanooga, Tn.) 66-61 in the championship game when Lexie had 26 points. Lacie was a MaxPreps first-team All-American and averaged 20.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.6 steals per game as a senior. Lacie averaged 10.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 3.4 steals per game as a senior and was first-team All-State.

The duo helped the Cardinal to a national championship in 2021 and is ranked No. 1 heading into the Final Four. Lexie is the team's third-leading scorer at 12.7 while Lacie averages 4.3 points and is second on the team in steals and assists. Both are starters.

South Carolina

Destiny Littleton — The 5-9 senior was a California prep phenom and finished her career as the state's all-time leading scorer with more than 4,300 points. A MaxPreps and McDonald's All-American, she averaged a national best 42.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.4 steals as a senior at Bishop's (La Jolla, Calif.) in 2016-17. She's a part-time player for the Gamecocks, averaging 2.8 points per game.

Saniya Rivers — The MaxPreps North Carolina Player of the Year as a senior in 2021, Rivers averaged a whopping 36.8 points, 11.5 rebounds and 5.3 steals per game at Ashley (Wilmington, N.C.).