Geno Auriemma celebrated his 1,217th victory as the head coach of UConn women’s basketball team as the Huskies defeated Farleigh Dickinson, 85-41, Thursday night in Gampel Pavilion.
The landmark victory leaves Auriemma atop of the win column in college basketball coaching history, topping former Stanford Head Coach Tara VanDerveer as the Huskies defeated FDU by 44 points on Thursday.
The win cements Auriemma as one of the top program builders in sports history, reigning in – along with the 1,217 victories – 11 National Titles, 23 Final Four appearances and 59 conference championships.
Freshman forward Sarah Strong led all scorers with 20 points, exploding for 11 in the third quarter as the Huskies ended the period on a 22-2 scoring run over the final 7:39.
A theme that ran common throughout all four periods was UConn’s ability to control the paint and out-rebound the Knights, as the Huskies (4-0) finished with a +16 margin on the boards and a +28 advantage in the paint. Paige Bueckers led the Huskies with nine rebounds, landing one rebound shy of a double-double (the redshirt senior finished with 16 points).
Sophomore wing Ashlynn Shade scored Connecticut’s first six points but did not score again, burying two triples to open up the scoring. Shade finished 2/5 from the field, including a 50% mark from beyond the arc.
Strong started her dominance early by rebounding over Knight defenders repeatedly. The freshman finished with eight rebounds, four of which came on the offensive glass.
Graduate guard Kaitlyn Chen was one of three Huskies to score five straight points, burying a mid-range jumper before knocking down a three and forcing a timeout midway through the first quarter.
Azzi Fudd made her long-awaited return after the break, checking in with 3:39 seconds left in the period. The uber-talented wing scored twice from the charity stripe but didn’t find the basket until midway through the third period during a breakaway steal-and-go.
The Huskies finished the first quarter on a 13-2 scoring run while shooting just 30% from the field, scoring mostly from the interior as the Huskies finished with a 10-0 paint advantage after period one. Farleigh Dickinson turned the ball over seven times in period one as the Knights scored a game-high 14 points in the first quarter.
Freshman Morgan Cheli scored her only points of the game on an and-one score early in the second, kickstarting a huge Husky run that dominated most of the period. Despite shooting just 4/17 (24%) from three, the Huskies outscored FDU 22-8 in the period behind a perfect 7/7 effort from the free throw line and racing to a +10 margin on the boards.
Redshirt sophomore Ice Brady was perfect in the first half, shooting 3/3 from the field and knocking down two free throws, finishing the game with 10 total points. Brady continues to improve every game from an accuracy perspective, shooting an impressive 58% from the field against Farleigh Dickinson.
At the break, Connecticut outscored the Knights 18-0 in the paint and 11-0 on fast break opportunities, racing to a 55-22 lead as the clock expired. Chen led Husky scorers with 11 points at the half, trailing only FDU’s Ava Renninger (13) in scoring. Renninger shot 5/8 from the field, including 3/3 from three, as the Knights trailed by 33 at the break.
“We shot the ball lousy in the first half,” said Auriemma, “but I wasn’t disappointed with that.”
Bueckers logged just seven minutes of game time in the second half as the Huskies depended mostly on the hardy efforts of Strong on the offensive end. Strong scored five points in 15 seconds to put the Huskies up 57-28, encapsulating a 10-0 run over 3:05 which saw Strong and Bueckers account for all Connecticut points.
Eleven Huskies logged over ten minutes of game time, with six playing over 20 minutes a piece.
“I would definitely say this is the best team that we’ve had in the last four or five years,” said Auriemma. Mixing together such a talented rotation did not seem to be a problem for the 40-year veteran, as Auriemma acclimated Fudd well to the rigor of 20 minutes a night.
Farleigh Dickinson scored eight points in the third quarter – the second time in the game – ending the third period down 39 points.
Jana El Alfy, Allie Ziebell and Qadence Samuels all scored for the first time in the fourth quarter as the Huskies plowed to a 81-45 victory, celebrating Auriemma in grand fashion post-game.
Connecticut will next be in action on Monday when the Huskies travel to the Bahamas to compete in the Baha Mar Women’s Championship. Oregon State will be the first opponent on the slate, and with a win the opportunity to play the winner of Mississippi and Boston College the next day.
Great work son!