The day before the day. It looms – a rematch with bitter rival Tennessee – and the Huskies are pining for revenge.
It’s easy to look past a reeling Big East opponent in Xavier (10-11, 3-9) and look ahead towards Sunday, when the burgeoning Volunteers, now ranked inside the top 15 of the AP Poll, storm into Hartford. But the UConn women’s basketball team (22-0, 12-0) has learned to take its quest for back-to-back national titles one day at a time, especially when its injury-plagued roster enters the game shorthanded.
“I try to emphasize that every time I step onto the court,” Ashlynn Shade said of the team’s hardy effort with only nine healthy players. “I try to impact the game in as many ways as possible. If my shot isn’t falling, I know I can try even harder on defense, rebounding and getting steals.”
Shade, who played over 36 minutes Wednesday, finished with 12 points, 9 steals (career-high) and 6 assists as one of three healthy starters.
It’s what Connecticut, riddled with injuries from top-to-bottom, had to do Wednesday: one possession, one set, one shot at a time. Those possessions stacked on top of each other, culminating in a 97-39 win for the nation’s top team in GampelPavilion.
The shorthanded Huskies felt the effects of an irregular rotation early. Jana El Alfy, making her first start since the National Championship game in April, absorbed the lion’s share of minutes down low before subbing out midway through the first period in exchange for a guard-heavy rotation.
It allowed the Musketeers to stick around early. Maddie Kanerva tacked on an early pair of baskets while Mariyah Noel, Xavier’s leading scorer coming into the day, added two free throws to give XU its first lead of the game. Without seven-time Big East Freshman of the Week Blanca Quiñonez (shoulder) on the court, the Huskies looked flat out of the gate, especially offensively.
Connecticut used Noel’s flagrant foul – issued on an elbow to KK Arnold’s head on an in-bounds pass – to build its first multi-possession of the night. But it came at a cost.
Azzi Fudd missed her first free throw of the season attempting the shots for Arnold, who went to the bench holding her nose. Fudd’s pursuit of history (a 50-50-100 season) was stunted as a deflated gasp blew through Gampel Pavilion.
“Really, really difficult night for her,” Geno Auriemma said of Fudd’s 1-for-7 mark from 3. “But her presence on the floor is worth a lot. The other team doesn’t know she’ll miss the next seven, they just think we have to guard her.”
Sarah Strong made up for it in earnest. The sophomore forward, freshly minted to the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award watchlist, hit on seven of her first eight shots, grabbed three rebounds and forced a trey of turnovers all before exiting the game at the seven minute mark of the second period.
“You always need someone to bail you out,” Auriemma said of the team’s slow start from the field. “I thought Sarah’s first quarter – it’s just so easy, isn’t it? She makes it look so effortless that we’re not even talking about it.”
Strong finished with 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting, five rebounds, three assists and three turnovers forced, marking the fifth time in her illustrious 62-game career she hit the 25-point mark.
It compensated for the Huskies’ lack of 3-point efficiency. It took Connecticut 10 attempts and over 14 minutes to hit on a triple, when Allie Ziebell buried one from the corner to extend the lead to double digits for the first time all night.
Then she hit again. And again. And again. Ziebell drained four consecutive 3-pointers within the span of two minutes, which included nine straight points that opened UConn’s lead up to 20 by the three minute mark of the second period.
Strong and Ziebell combined for 34 of Connecticut’s 43 first half points and 13 of its 17 field goals – the difference in Wednesday’s slow-developing half.
But Ziebell wasn’t finished. Again and again the ball found the bottom of the net from 3, barely, if at all, grazing the rim. She couldn’t miss – whether it was off a flare screen or the product of a pick-and-roll gone wrong for Xavier.
“When they’re happening, you don’t really know, you’re not counting,” Auriemma said. “The number isn’t as impressive to me as watching her just play with so much confidence and shoot the ball. That’s the Allie I saw in high school, that’s the Allie I saw every summer and that’s the kid we recruited.”
The sophomore had tied the UConn record for made 3-pointers in a game, 10 on just 14 attempts, by the fourth quarter media timeout. She was met by Kelis Fisher, who sat at the scorer’s table waiting to check in, with a hug and high-five as a reward.
“I had absolutely no idea,” Ziebell admitted about her knowledge of the record. “Honestly, when you’re shooting and they’re going in, you just know you’re going to get into that rhythm.”
Ziebell finished with 34 points (doubling her previous career-high of 17) on 11-of-15 shooting – the only non-3-point make an and-1 that she ironically missed off back rim.
“It was a lot of fun. KK definitely enjoyed it,” Ziebell said of the post-game celebration. “A lot of water was sprayed – got a little drenched.”
The two sophomores finished the game having attempted 29 of UConn’s 69 field goals, with the five other Huskies who played combining for the other 30 (hitting just 15).
Now the Huskies, 21-0 and on top of the college basketball world, turn their attention to an old friend. No. 15 Tennessee will enter PeoplesBank Arena on Sunday with the most momentum its harnessed all season.
“It seemed like whoever won that game early in the season was going to win the national championship,” Auriemma said. “It’s not that anymore. Things have changed. But they’re still a really, really good team and they beat us last year at their place.”