DePaul women let a late lead slip away in a 72-69 loss to No. 4 Connecticut

Aaliyah Edwards scored 16 points and hit two clutch baskets down the stretch, and No. 4 Connecticut edged DePaul 72-69 on Saturday to clinch at least a share of the Big East regular-season championship.

DePaul led by as many as seven in the second half at Wintrust Arena and was nursing a four-point lead late in a tight, physical contest, but Edwards and Lou Lopez Sénéchal scored to tie it at 65 with 3:10 left.

Then Edwards scored off a turnover with 2:40 to play to put the Huskies ahead. Nika Mühl nailed 3-pointer from the corner with 1:13 to go for a 70-65 UConn lead.

Anaya Peoples hit two free throws and then a layup with 17 seconds left to pull the Blue Demons within one. DePaul star Aneesah Morrow raced down the court in the final seconds with a chance to win it but was forced into a turnover with nine seconds left.

“It speaks to our maturity as a team,” Edwards said of the wild finish. “We know that we can close out these types of games.

“Just us competing and being tough is really what it comes down to. No game is going to be easy. As you know, we’ve been dealing with stuff like this all season.”

Little has come easy for the injury-riddled Huskies this season. Just ask coach Geno Auriemma

“I’ve seen things this year I haven’t seen in 30 years,” Auriemma said. “They find a way. We’re living on the edge, but they find a way to make one big play after another after another after another.

“We might not play well for 37 minutes and play great in three minutes and win the game. It’s probably playing better than playing great for 37 minutes and losing the game.”

Muhl, who finished with 13 points, sank a pair of free throws with seven seconds remaining to ice it. Peoples missed a 3-point attempt just before the buzzer.

Aubrey Griffin finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for UConn (26-5, 17-2 Big East)

Huskies forward Dorka Juhász had 13 points and eight rebounds despite suffering an ankle injury with 1:12 left in the first quarter. She scored 10 of UConn’s first 17 points before getting hurt, then returned in the second quarter after receiving treatment.

Morrow scored 25 points and added eight rebounds, but the Blue Demons (15-15, 8-11) lost another tight one to the Huskies. DePaul has dropped 23 straight to UConn, dating to Dec. 29, 1983.

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“You aren’t supposed to get any stars of your forehead for playing hard,” DePaul coach Doug Bruno said. “We competed but we didn’t execute in the fourth quarter on both sides of the ball.

“We needed some defensive stops and didn’t get it. We needed some better offensive looks and didn’t get it.”

UConn: The Huskies have been hampered by injuries, and the loss of Juhész, who entered averaging 14.4 points and 34.7 minutes, would have hurt heading into March. The 6-foot-5 Hungarian graduate student curled up on the floor near the basket for a minute late in the first half before being helped off and favoring her right leg. The Huskies are still without star Azzi Fudd, who reinjured her right knee on Jan. 15 versus Georgetown. Auriemma said Fudd is making progress, but couldn’t project her return day. Fudd has missed 21 games this season but hopes to return in time to help UConn make a run next month at a 12th national title. Only two Huskies, Edwards and Lopez Sénéchal, who is nursing general soreness, have played every game this season.

DePaul: Morrow, a sophomore from Chicago, entered as DePaul’s leading scorer with 769 points for the season, 35 short of a team-record 804 set by Diana Vines in 1988-89. Morrow also is the team’s rebound leader.

Connecticut: Concludes regular-season play against Xavier on Monday.

DePaul: Plays at Marquette on Monday in its regular-season finale.