UConn women's basketball star Paige Bueckers became the first freshman to win the USBWA's Ann Meyers Drysdale Award as national player of the year. Bueckers, from Hopkins High, also has won the Naismith Trophy and Associated Press player of the year award.

The 5-11 Bueckers averaged 20 points per game, and averaged 21.6 points in the Huskies' run to the Final Four. UConn (28-2) fell to No. 3 seed Arizona in the national semifinals.

DenHartog lifts Gophers

Amber Fiser and Autume Pease combined on a three-hitter, and Natalie DenHartog's two-run homer was the key hit for the Gophers in a 2-1 softball victory over Purdue on Sunday at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.

The Gophers (15-5) won three of four from the Boilermakers (6-14).

DenHartog finished the series 6-for-10 with three home runs, two doubles, four runs scored and six RBI, plus a 1.700 slugging percentage.

Big comeback beats U

The Gophers scored the game's first seven runs and held Michigan State hitless for five innings, but the Spartans rallied for a 10-7 baseball victory in the decisive game of their Big Ten series, leaving the Gophers (4-14) without a series victory this season.

With Chase Stanke, Easton Bertrand and Jack Wassel driving in two runs each, the Gophers staked Trent Schoeberl to a 7-0 lead through five innings. But Michigan State chipped away, breaking up the no-hitter and shutout in the sixth and taking the lead with a six-run eighth, aided by three bases-loaded walks.

Etc.

• Jackson Allen and Bodin Zarkovic scored singles victories, but the Gophers lost 5-2 at No. 12 Illinois in men's tennis.

• Lincoln Johnson shot even-par 71 in the final round and placed seventh overall for the Gophers at Indiana's Hoosier Collegiate Invitational. The Gophers took seventh among nine teams.