HARTFORD, Conn. -- Sarah Strong had 22 points and nine rebounds and Paige Bueckers added 15 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists as No. 5 UConn defeated No. 22 Creighton 72-53 on Thursday night to claim its fifth straight Big East regular-season title.

Bueckers became the second UConn player in the past 25 seasons to have 70 points and 30 assists in a four-game span in a season, according to ESPN research.

Kaitlyn Chen had 11 points and three assists and Azzi Fudd scored nine points for UConn (27-3, 17-0 Big East), which notched its 37th consecutive regular-season conference victory.

"I don't want it to be all the sudden it's national championship or bust at UConn and winning regular-season championship doesn't matter anymore, because it does matter," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "We've always made it matter. It's always been important to us."

Morgan Maly scored 11 points for Creighton (23-5, 15-2).

Creighton scored the first eight points of the game. A jumper by Fudd with 47 seconds left in the first quarter gave UConn its first lead and the Huskies opened the second with a 9-1 run to extend their lead to nine points.

UConn won its 22nd outright Big East regular-season title and has shared the crown twice.

Redshirt junior Caroline Ducharme made her first appearance at home for UConn since Nov. 16, 2023. Her play has been limited the past two seasons because of a concussion and other injuries.

Takeaways

Creighton: The Bluejays are 0-11 against UConn. Creighton is the No. 2 seed in the Big East tournament and wouldn't meet the Huskies again until the title game, if both teams get that far.

UConn: The Huskies can go undefeated in conference play for the 18th time in program history with a win over Marquette on Sunday.

Key moment

Strong, a UConn freshman, was called for her second foul with 7:44 left in the second quarter. Before being taken out of the game, she had back-to-back baskets to give UConn a nine-point lead.

Key stat

After missing 14 of its 19 shots in the first quarter, UConn was 21 for 31 from the field in the second and third periods.

Up next

Creighton hosts Villanova on Sunday. UConn host Marquette on Sunday.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.