The old maxim goes: all is fair in love and war.
However, one could say all is fair in love and basketball, too, if one is a fan of the UConn women’s basketball program.
On Saturday afternoon, the Huskies traveled to Milwaukee, Wis. to take on the Marquette Golden Eagles. Despite a stagnant offensive start, the Huskies pulled the win off with a final score of 71-56.
Before this game, UConn had won 21 straight games by more than 25 points, which, according to the team’s website, was the longest streak by any Division I program over the last 25 seasons.
Photos by Connor Sharp, Photo Editor/The Daily Campus.
With Saturday’s defeat of the Golden Eagles, which was won by only 15 more points, that streak was broken.
As things kicked off in Wisconsin, Marquette took advantage of the Huskies’ slow start. UConn could not keep up with the tempo the Golden Eagles had set right out of the gates.
Connecticut trailed until there were around three minutes left in the first quarter, when Sarah Strong made a driving layup in the paint.
The Golden Eagles rallied back, though, with a clutch three-pointer from Lee Volker to close out the first frame with a score of 13-10, Marquette.
The turning point for Connecticut did not come until midway through the second quarter. The score was 20-20 due to a free throw from Skylar Forbes. After that, Jana El Alfy laid the ball in for the Huskies, and from there, Connecticut kept extending their lead.
By the time halftime rolled around, the Huskies were up 36-24.
“They came in super aggressive on top of their stuff. I mean, their defense, their offense, their crashing the boards. They had every hustle play, and we needed to wake up,” Azzi Fudd said to the FS1 broadcast postgame.
With Blanca Quiñonez out, a player for Connecticut had to step up and change the tide for the Huskies when the offense was dull to start.
That player for the Huskies was the graduate guard, Fudd.
Fudd finished the game with 25 points, shooting a 10-20 from the field and 5-8 from beyond the arc.
“I think just my mindset of being aggressive, my mindset isn’t necessarily the score, but what can [I] do to help the team to contribute to make sure that we get things done and usually that starts with ‘What can I control?’ and that’s on the defensive end,” Fudd said to FS1.
Coming out of the locker room, the Huskies turned a page, using the paint and forcing turnovers on the Golden Eagle to generate more offense.
Strong was the leader of the pack for the Huskies in the second half, racking up 22 points and shooting 9-20 from the field.
Photos by Connor Sharp, Photo Editor/The Daily Campus.
At one point in the third frame, Strong had notched 17 consecutive points for the Huskies, solidifying her program’s 27th win of the season.
“I think what’s unique about our team is that at any moment, any person can hit a shot, keep going,” Fudd said to FS1 postgame. “I mean it felt like Sarah made, like, 20 shots in a row. So, like the offense, nothing was really drawn up for her, and she’s making [Sarah Strong] plays as she does.”
In addition to Strong and Fudd, another key performance that stood out for the Huskies was KK Arnold’s ball movement in the second half.
The sophomore dished out nine assists on the day, a new career high for the guard that she previously set against Villanova on Jan. 15.
Along with her assists, the Wisconsin native finished the afternoon with 10 points and six rebounds.
“People got hot at certain times, and it felt like we didn’t really have that flow that we usually have. So, today was one of those days where we kind of just had to figure it out and push through,” Fudd said to FS1.
The Huskies will continue their Big East road trip by traveling to Philadelphia on Wednesday. They will take on the No. 2 squad in the Big East in the Villanova Wildcats.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Finneran Pavilion. Fans can tune in to the bout on Peacock.