Paige Bueckers is an American college basketball player for the UConn Huskies of the Big East Conference. She has won three gold medals with the United States at the youth international level, including at the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Cup, where she was named Most Valuable Player. She was recognized as USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year in 2019.

Paige Bueckers was born on October 20, 2001, in Edina, Minnesota. She started playing basketball at age five. She joined Hopkins’s varsity team in eighth grade, starting in six games and averaging 8.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. Paige Bueckers led her team in three-point shooting and ranked second in assists. Hopkins finished with a 28–3 record and a runner-up finish at the Class 4A state tournament, where Bueckers was named to the All-Tournament Team.

On December 12, 2020, Paige Bueckers made her collegiate debut for UConn, recording 17 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and five steals in a 79–23 win over UMass Lowell. On February 3, 2021, she posted a season-high 32 points and seven assists in a 94–62 victory over St. John’s. It was the highest-scoring performance by a UConn freshman since Tina Charles in 2007. Two days later, she scored 30 points in an 87–58 win over Marquette. In her next game, Paige Bueckers recorded 31 points, six steals, and five assists, scoring her team’s final 13 points, in a 63–59 overtime win over top-ranked South Carolina. She became the first player in program history to have three straight 30-point games.

Paige Bueckers was a McDonald’s All-American selection and received national player of the year honors. In her first season at UConn, Paige Bueckers was an All-American and became the first freshman to earn a major national college player of the year award, winning all four she was eligible for. She led UConn to the Final Four of the 2021 NCAA Tournament and set program records for assists by a freshman and single-game assists.

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