The University of Connecticut women's basketball team is headed to the NCAA Final Four on Friday after defeating the University of Southern California 80-73.

Point guard Paige Bueckers put Jesus in the spotlight after Monday night's win.

“I am a living testimony. I give all the glory to God. He sent me trials and tribulations, but it was to strengthen my character. I continued to believe. “I did everything I could so God could do everything I couldn't do,” she told ESPN.

In 2020, Bueckers finished her senior year at Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minnesota, as one of the most touted recruits in the country, USA Today reports.

And her first two years at UConn were no disappointment.

During her freshman year, she was named first-team All-American by the Associated Press and won AP Player of the Year, Naismith College Player of the Year, and the Wooden Award as the nation's top player.

However, ankle injuries and a torn ACL caused her to sit on the bench her junior year.

“I’m still learning to give myself grace,” Bueckers said after the game, according to CT Insider. “I'm not ignorant enough to think it's going to be a linear progression all the time and I'm just going to be on the rise and be the old Paige and have a great game every game. It's a process, coming back from a serious injury, getting my lungs back, finding the rhythm and the flow again.

The 22-year-old admitted it was difficult for her to watch her teammates play every game while she was recovering, but she said she took to heart Proverbs 3:5-6, which says: ” Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not forsake yourself” according to your own understanding; submit to him in all your ways, and he will make your paths straight.

When the season began in November, it had been 19 months since Bueckers stepped on the court.

But soon she was unstoppable.

She began the season averaging 18 points per game.

The outspoken Christian said on Instagram that she was “blessed beyond measure” to be able to play.

Check out this post on Instagram

A post shared by Paige(@paigebueckers).

In that post, she also included a snippet from her daily devotional: “Your breakthrough could be right around the corner or far away. Either way, victory is yours. You will see God working in difficult ways and bringing good things.” Get out of it. You will feel His presence during the long wait, see His victorious hand in your struggles, and feel sweet joy as you see Him touch your life. In the meantime, trust Him with every detail of your life – big and small. Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything and cling to hope at all costs.”

Bueckers is UConn's leading scorer this season with 22 points per game.

She believes God used her time on the bench to strengthen her faith.

“Part of me believes this is what God called me to do. I feel like I'm just going to have a great story to tell at the end,” she told ESPN.

She added: “Just being able to look at it [my injury] not as an obstacle, but just as a wave of adversity – just something I can get through. And God, he didn't promise that there wouldn't be obstacles, but he did promise that he would be there every step of the way.

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