COLUMBIA, S.C. — The UConn women’s basketball team knew it would face an uphill battle at No. 1 South Carolina on Sunday, but the Huskies barely started the climb in an 83-65 loss at Colonial Life Arena.

The 18-point margin was UConn’s second-worst defeat in the history of its series with South Carolina. The Gamecocks’ biggest win over the Huskies was a 22-point victory, also in Columbia, in 2020. UConn has now lost four straight matchups with South Carolina, including the 2022 NCAA championship game.

The Huskies never got within 10 points of the Gamecocks in the second half, even as Aaliyah Edwards and Paige Bueckers led the effort to keep the game within reach. Edwards finished with a team-high 20 points and 12 rebounds, and she was UConn’s most efficient shooter going 8-for-13 from the field. She is only the third player to record a double-double against South Carolina this season.

Bueckers was UConn’s only double-digit scorer with 12 points in the first half, but she saw fewer touches in after halftime with just four shot attempts and one make in the third quarter. The superstar guard stepped up again in the fourth to finish with 20 points, five rebounds and three assists, but she finished with the lowest plus-minus rating on the team at minus-20.

The Huskies already trailed by eight points at the end of the first quarter after a slow shooting start for both teams. UConn, which has thrived with a balanced attack, had just three scorers in the first 10 minutes and shot 26.3% from the field. The team also went 1-7 from three and missed its only two free throw attempts. Things briefly improved from 3-point range in the second quarter with Bueckers adding two, but she didn’t make another until midway through the fourth quarter.

South Carolina’s guards shut down Nika Muhl defensively, holding the Huskies’ starting point guard to six points and two assists when she entered the game averaging seven points and 6.3 assists. Muhl did not record a single assist in the first half and finished with five of the team’s 13 turnovers.

Meanwhile, UConn struggled to limit South Carolina’s offense as the Gamecocks finished with four players scoring at least 10 points. Freshman Ashlynn Shade gave up 16 points as the primary guard on Te-Hina Paopao, and the South Carolina senior went 4-for-6 on 3-pointers. However, the Huskies were more competitive on the boards than they’ve been in recent weeks, only trailing the Gamecocks 46-37 despite a sizable height disadvantage.

Even with just nine players active on Sunday, South Carolina’s depth highlighted UConn’s lack of personnel amid five season-ending injuries. Shade was the only other Husky to score in double figures alongside Edwards and Bueckers, and both KK Arnold and Qadence Samuels finished with a single made field goal. The Gamecocks had eight of nine players who saw the floor score points, and seven made multiple field goals.