Mohegan — Paige Bueckers was playing H-O-R-S-E, one shot more difficult than the last, and it was infectious.

Nika Muhl threw a pass to Aaliyah Edwards, who scored despite the lane being clogged at the time. Aubrey Griffin scored on a particularly difficult putback.

Then Edwards scored again to cap a 10-0 run in the third quarter that led to No. 17 UConn’s 76-64 victory over No. 24 North Carolina on Sunday in the Hall of Fame Women’s Basketball Showcase before 8,428 fans at Mohegan Sun Arena.

“I think I’ve just had a lot going on, just mentally stressing myself,” Bueckers said. “I think today I tried to get back to having fun playing the game of basketball and just competed. Having fun and competing, that’s what I love to do and a lot of times I feel like I overthink and I’m just still trying to find my flow.

“I feel like when I’m playing aggressive on defense, that’s when I play my best and that’s when my passion shows the most.”

Bueckers, the former national player of the year who missed all of last season with a knee injury, finished with 26 points on 11-for-14 shooting — she didn’t miss in an electric third quarter — and added four blocked shots and three steals to be named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

She scored the 1,000th point of her career on her first basket of the second half, assisted by KK Arnold, tying UConn great Maya Moore as the fastest in program history to the milestone. Bueckers and Moore each achieved the honor in their 55th game.

Edwards had 16 points and 11 rebounds for UConn (6-3), while Muhl had four 3-pointers for 12 points. The Huskies’ three losses this season have all come against teams in the top five nationally: No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 NC State and No. 5 Texas.

And the losses have come as UConn figures out how to contend with a rash of injuries for the third year running, with the Huskies starting a pair of freshmen Sunday, Arnold (7 points, 5 assists, 2 steals) and Ashlynn Shade (8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists) for the second straight game.

Maria Gakdeng, a transfer from Boston College, had 14 points and 13 rebounds for North Carolina (6-4).

The game was preceeded by wins from No. 2 UCLA over No. 20 Florida State (95-78) and unbeaten and top-ranked South Carolina over No. 11 Utah (78-69) in the other two games of the Hall of Fame Showcase at Mohegan Sun.

The game was deadlocked at 36 at halftime, at which point Bueckers had done it all for UConn, finishing the half with 17 points on 7 of 9 shooting, including a layup while being knocked to the floor, a leaner to beat the shot clock and a putback as the trailer on a fast break.

UConn led by double figures in the second quarter, 23-13, after a fast break by Arnold, who never slowed, but the Tar Heels went on a 9-2 run to pull within 25-22 and back-to-back baskets by Gakdeng and Alyssa Ustby put North Carolina ahead 30-28 with 3:17 in the half.

The teams traded leads for the remainder of the second quarter, as North Carolina led 35-34 on a shot by Gakdeng with 1:03 to play and Bueckers put the Huskies back in front with her offensive rebound of an Arnold miss on the break.

Reniya Kelly hit one free throw for the Tar Heels with 12.4 seconds left to tie it.

The Huskies then started the second half with a storm on defense, with an 11-0 run spurred by three steals, two from Arnold and one from Bueckers, to prompt a Tar Heels timeout. Muhl followed that with a 3 on a wrap-around pass from Shade for a 47-36 advantage.

After Bueckers’ steal and ensuing layup at the 7:59 mark of the third, she reacted with a celebratory fist pump and a chest bump with Arnold.

“I think coach challenged us at halftime to set the tone, especially us three (Bueckers, Edwards and Muhl), defensively,” Bueckers said. “Just playing with an intensity and an intentionality on defense and knowing what we need to do.

“It was definitely a focus coming out of halftime to get off to a strong start to the second half because we didn’t like how we played in the second quarter.”

UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who has been sympathetic to his players’ plight as they deal with injuries, including a recent season-ending knee injury to former No. 1 recruit Azzi Fudd, said, however, it wasn’t him who inspired the third-quarter turnaround.

“I didn’t really say much at halftime. I’m learning that talking doesn’t really accomplish anything,” Auriemma said. “At some point the players learn we have to pick up the intensity level defensively if we want to win tonight. We have to create if we want to win tonight.

“That third quarter they were inspired. Not by me, but something inspired them, whatever that was.”

Auriemma has harped on his team’s lack of consistency. The Huskies outscored North Carolina 29-13 in the third quarter, then watched as the Tar Heels outscored them 15-11 in the fourth.

“It’s something I’ve talked about,” Auriemma said. “It’s a real struggle to sustain any kind of momentum, even within a quarter or within a game.”

UConn next plays at noon Saturday against No. 18 Louisville at the XL Center.

v.fulkerson@theday.com