Before they began conference play during the 2017-18 season, the UConn women’s basketball team battled the Duquesne Dukes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, for then-senior guard Kia Nurse’s homecoming game. Aaliyah Edwards was one of 3,000 fans in attendance at that game. The Huskies dusted the Dukes 104-52 and then-junior Katie Lou Samuelson scored a season-high 33 points, but the U-15 national champion with Team Ontario had the time of her life.
Fast forward six years, and Edwards played on that same floor at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (formerly known as Maple Leaf Gardens) as a senior representing the University of Connecticut. With Nurse in attendance, the 2020 Olympian gave the sellout crowd plenty to cheer for with a game-best 26 points and 10 rebounds in 24 minutes as part of a 111-34 blowout against the Toronto Metropolitan Bold.
It just made sense that Edwards scored UConn’s first point in their third and final game outside of the United States this season. Although that basket came on her second free throw attempt 24 seconds into the game, it opened the floodgates for a Husky offense that picked up the contest’s first 18 points in four minutes. By the end of the first quarter, Connecticut held a 39-5 edge and surrendered just one three-pointer, a major improvement from the five they allowed in their Big East opener against the Butler Bulldogs less than 48 hours earlier.
The 2017 U16 FIBA American Championship gold medalist and freshman guard Ashlynn Shade provided the early punches, but with the former dealing with significant foul trouble, freshman guard Qadence Samuels got into a groove in the second quarter. Between Samuels, Shade, and three-time Big East Freshman of the Week KK Arnold, the three first-year Huskies missed exactly one shot from the field in the first half.
Toronto Metropolitan scored nine points in the first 20 minutes, but the team played like one who entered 10-0 in their regular season the second they made three straight field goals. Second-year guard Jayme Foreman, the Bold’s leading scorer at 16.3 points per game, led that charge from downtown. Yet with each of the six buckets TMU buried in that frame, UConn had an answer up its sleeve. Whether that involved a bucket from redshirt junior Paige Bueckers or three-pointers from the freshmen, the Huskies kept applying the pressure as though they were playing a Big East foe.
Although the offense slowed down in the final 10 minutes, Connecticut crossed the century mark for the second time all season and secured their fifth straight victory after a 4-3 start. Edwards scored six straight points for the Huskies prior to checking out and receiving a rousing ovation from the sellout crowd with three minutes left. For Canada’s second-largest province by total area, the senior forward was their “hometown hero.”
With the NCAA recognizing this non-conference battle as an official regular-season contest 27 hours before tip-off, UConn’s season-high 62.7% clip from the field as well as Edwards’ fourth double-double in her last five games will all count. The only aspects of this contest that will not be affected by any means are their No. 10 NET ranking per Warrennolan.com and their NCAA Tournament resume, which currently includes two ranked victories.
Reasonably so, the senior forward got the spotlight, but that did not stop the Huskies’ vaunted freshmen class from putting on a show. Shade one-upped her marquee 22-point performance from Monday’s Big East opener with 20 on 8-10 shooting and four treys. Arnold produced just as efficiently with a career-best 21 points while making her defensive presence known via a team-leading seven steals. Samuels finished a rebound shy of a double-double but still dropped 18 points and swatted a shot.
Given the ups and downs Connecticut has had through 12 games of their 2023-24 campaign, there is some satisfaction with how the team is performing heading into the heart of Big East competition.
“I like where we are right now,” head coach Geno Auriemma said going into the holiday break.
Toronto Metropolitan, meanwhile, stepped up to the plate when the Pittsburgh Panthers backed out of playing the Huskies in Canada after firing former head coach Lance White in March. Head coach Carly Clarke described the game as an unforgettable experience, and despite the 77-point defeat, the Bold played their heart out against UConn like they do versus any Ontario University Athletics opponent.
Although TMU shot a season-worst 18.8% from the field, first-year guard Catrina Garvey dropped a team-high 10 points while fourth-year guard Kaillie Hall dealt five dimes. Collectively, the Bold buried seven triples, grabbed 33 rebounds, forced nine steals and blocked three shots on NCAA rules as opposed to FIBA rules.
Throughout the final six months of the 2023 calendar year, the Huskies participated in three homecoming games (one of them being an exhibition), the first time they have had that many since the 2021-22 season. During the offseason, senior guard Nika Mühl had her homecoming game in Croatia as part of the team’s foreign tour in Europe in August. 30 days before Connecticut competed in the Great White North, Bueckers got hers against the then-undefeated Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Referring to her homecoming contest feeling as “an experience,” Auriemma held high praise for what the rest of the season could entail from the 2023 All-Big East selection. “When Aaliyah [Edwards] plays the way she has played these last four, five games, she is an All-American player.”
Winning all three games played in a five-day window and now 9-3, the Huskies have their longest break of the season with Christmas around the corner. Despite the 10-day hiatus, UConn’s daunting schedule ramps right back up against the No. 18 Marquette Golden Eagles (11-0, 1-0 Big East) on New Year’s Eve. Tip-off at the XL Center in the first of eight straight Big East games is slated for 1 p.m. on SNY.