Bridgeport — Paige Bueckers waged a relentless campaign to lure fellow high school star Azzi Fudd, a friend and former Gatorade National Girls' Basketball Player of the Year, to UConn.

"She did bug me a lot," Fudd said of her recruitment process, part head coach Geno Auriemma, part a nagging Bueckers which landed them both in the Huskies' backcourt.

Then, the two had to wait.

Both injured, Bueckers missed 19 games, Dec. 9-Feb. 23, following surgery to repair a left tibial plateau fracture and meniscus tear, while Fudd missed 11 games Dec. 3-Jan. 23 with a foot injury. Headed into Monday's Bridgeport Regional Final against N.C. State (7 p.m., ESPN), they started only three career games together, all in the NCAA tournament.

"I tried to do a lot of just watching film and basketball and that's something Paige has helped me with because I don't really watch much basketball outside of my games or people we're playing," Fudd said Sunday, on the interview podium as one of the starting five for the Huskies (28-5). "She helped me just kind of watch more games, so I think that really helped me adjust quicker to when I started playing again.

"I've watched a lot more NBA than I've ever watched in my life."

Said Bueckers: "I think just some people play the game, some people love the game but I think I live the game. Any time there's basketball on the TV, I'm going to watch it."

Bueckers, a sophomore from Hopkins, Minn., arrived at UConn a year ago and averaged 20.0 points and 5.8 assists per game, shooting 46.4% from 3-point range, to earn consensus national player of the year honors while leading the Huskies to a 28-2 record and their 13th straight Final Four.

She was the Big East Conference Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and league tournament Most Outstanding Player, exuding confidence and personality.

"I mean, she's that player," Auriemma said last season of Bueckers' star power. "She's that player that comes along that people talk about. 'Hey, did you see that kid from Connecticut?' She's that kid."

Fudd, meanwhile, graduated from St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C., where she had been named the 2019 Gatorade National Player of the Year, averaging 26.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists, the first sophomore to ever earn that honor. After rehabiliating her right knee, Fudd averaged 19.2 points as a junior before her senior season was canceled due to COVID-19.

Both 5-foot-11 All-America guards, both the No. 1-ranked player in their high school class, sharpshooters, creators of numerous YouTube videos — one subtitled "Azzi & Paige, quarantine life" — and TikTok enthusiasts, the anticipation of having them both in the UConn lineup became frenzied entering the 2021-22 season.

But for a while at least, Fudd and Bueckers could only support each other while rehabilitating their injuries.

"Just being able to surround yourself with your teammates and especially Azzi being someone who went through the same thing that I did with her knee surgery," Bueckers said. "Just having somebody to lean on and talk to that's gone through the same thing ...

"It's easy for people to say, 'Oh, I understand what you're going through' but they've never been through it. So just to have somebody like that to lean on who's been through the same things just keeping you positive and keeping you motivated is really important."

Bueckers is integrating herself back into game shape day-by-day following her injury. She was 7-for-17 in Saturday's Sweet 16 victory over Indiana, the most aggressive number of shot attempts since her return, finishing with 15 points. She's averaging 13.8 points and 4.2 assists.

Fudd, who had a career-high 29 points against Villanova on Feb. 9 and made seven 3-point field goals against Tennessee on Feb. 6, has started 14 games now for the Huskies. She averages 12.4 points per game and shoots 43.7% from 3-point range — "When she misses we're all like, 'Oh, my God! She missed?'" UConn sophomore Nikla Muhl said.

Of playing together?

"It's easy to play with someone like Paige who is a great facilitator and gets you easy looks," Fudd said. "Getting to now finally do this and now be in the Elite 8 together is a lot of fun."

v.fulkerson@theday.com