UConn women’s basketball’s 90-53 win over Providence on Wednesday afternoon was (for the most part) emblematic of the program’s near perfect calendar year.
The Huskies forced 30 turnovers and cashed them in for 41 points. Providence shot 35.4% from the field and was held six points below its season average of 59.2 points. Connecticut notched 24 assists on 33 made baskets – further crystalizing its nation-leading rank of 24.3 per game. The Huskies won a 12th game this season by 26 or more points.
Still, one thing – or the lack of one thing – made its absence felt on New Year’s Eve. KK Arnold, the surly taproot of Connecticut’s pressure defense and the team’s leading facilitator, missed the Huskies’ final game of 2025 with a nasal fracture sustained in practice on Tuesday.
It was the first time Arnold’s missed a game in her three year, 93-game tenure in Storrs. Her hardy presence as an on-ball defender and rim-running distributor permeated throughout the rest of the Huskies’ severed 10-man rotation; Geno Auriemma seldom pressed full court and set up shop at the halfcourt line for most of the game.
That doesn’t mean the top-ranked Huskies (14-0, 5-0) were any less dominant, however.
Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong, the crown jewels of one of the country’s top scoring offenses, caught the bus to Providence and combined for 35 points on 11 field goals.
Strong anchored the early scoring with four first quarter 3-pointers, contributing nearly half of Connecticut’s 30 first quarter points, while Blanca Quiñonez, fresh off her fifth Big East Freshman of the Week honor, scored seven consecutive from a combination of spots on the court to give Connecticut a 30-7 lead after 10 minutes.
Quiñonez, the second engine of the Husky defense, chipped in 11 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals off the bench while Jana El Alfy (10), Kayleigh Heckel (9) and Allie Ziebell (9) provided supplemental scoring.
Fudd scored eight second quarter points to join Strong in double figures by the end of the half, dishing five assists in her first 18 minutes of game time to lead the team. The graduate wing finished with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting (keeping her hopes of a sterling 50-50-100 season in-tact), six assists and four steals in 28 minutes.
Fudd’s impact was felt most on the defensive end of the court, however, as she delt with Providence’s leading scorer, Sabou Gueye, for the majority of the first half in man coverage.
Gueye averaged north of 14 points and led the team with 11.6 field goals attempted per game heading into Wednesday’s contest. The senior transfer didn’t score until the halfway point of the third quarter – when Fudd was clapping for her teammates on the bench – and only got off two shots in the game’s first 20 minutes.
The Huskies built a 23-point lead by the end of the first quarter, flexed it to 29 by halftime and held serve for a 27-point win over the Friars to close out the year.
Nine of the 10 healthy Huskies got run in second half. All nine scored, but, perhaps more importantly, seven had more than one assist. Fudd led the team with six, followed by Quiñonez and Ashlynn Shade with four a piece.
Connecticut got 33 points from its bench, 38 from the paint, 13 from fastbreaks and grabbed 12 offensive rebounds. The only thing to poke at? Turnovers.
UConn gave the ball away a season-high 21 times – perhaps the product of losing its starting points guard to a facial fracture less than 24 hours before tip-off. The Friars lived p to their salty defensive pedigree; 13 of those turnovers came from Strong (5), El Alfy (4) and Serah Williams (4) in the low post.
The Huskies return home on Saturday for a date with the Seton Hall Pirates in Hartford. It’ll be a rare quad two opportunity for Connecticut, who welcome the 53rd ranked Pirates to PeoplesBank Arena for the first game of 2026.