Photos by Connor Sharp, Photo Editor/The Daily Campus
January. February. UConn.
After defeating the St. John’s Red Storm 85-49 on Sunday night to kick off the month of March, the top-ranked UConn women’s basketball team made history in more ways than one.
First, they took part in the first standalone women’s basketball game at Madison Square Garden. Second, they capped off their 2025-26 season undefeated, the first time the program accomplished such a feat since the 2017-18 season and the 11th time in program history. Third, they crushed a St. John’s women’s basketball attendance record, with 9,612 fans in attendance at the world’s most famous arena.
And finally, with this win, the Huskies move to 20-0 in Big East conference play, making them the first men’s or women’s basketball team in the Big East conference to complete that accomplishment.
“There’s a lot that goes into it and I’m proud of these kids,” Head Coach Geno Auriemma said to the TNT broadcast postgame when asked about their undefeated season, “They put a lot of their heart and soul into it and I’m glad they get rewarded.”
To kick things off, the Huskies immediately had the upper hand compared to Red Storm due to their speed and intense tempo they set to start the game.
For the Huskies, it wasn’t necessarily one player that stood out for the squad in the first half, but rather, each player that stepped out onto the court made contributions whether that be on or off the box score.
Sophomore Sarah Strong was integral for the Huskies on both sides of the ball. The North Carolina native racked up nine points in the first half, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out four assists.
With the program’s consistent full-court pressure, they forced the Red Storm to make 15 turnovers in the first half and only 8-23 from the field and 2-10 from beyond the arc.
Despite the Huskies also struggling to make shots from beyond the arc, they made space in the paint, scoring 24 points in the first half in the lane.
Along with Strong, junior Ashlynn Shade finished with seven points and six other Huskies averaged above 50% from the field.
At the end of the first half, the Huskies led the Red Storm 43-20.
To start the second half, Connecticut continued their momentum. This time, though, it was Azzi Fudd, Allie Ziebell and Serah Williams who helped lead their squad to a victory.
In her regular season finale as a UConn Husky, Fudd contributed eight points to the score, shooting perfectly from the field. As for Ziebell, the Wisconsin native finished the second half with nine points, 13 in total over the entire game.
As a Brooklyn, N.Y native, Serah Williams took her last regular season and homecoming game to put her talents on full display. The forward controlled the glass, getting five rebounds. The Brooklyn native finished the game with 11 points, six rebounds and three assists.
“I told her that she played like a UConn player today,” Auriemma said to the media postgame when asked about Williams’ performance.
Despite only forcing the Red Storm to make seven turnovers over the second half of the game, UConn’s offense, including 46 points from the paint and 33 points from the bench, it propelled the Huskies to take the win.
The Huskies will now pivot their focus to what they’ve been having their eye on all season long.
March Madness and the post season. ‘
As for things the squad needs to polish up to prepare for this month, Strong says the squad needs to focus on tightening up every aspect of their game and striving for perfect practices.
First, the program will take part in the Big East conference tournament that is set to begin Friday, March 6 and will conclude on March 9.
Connecticut will have a first-round bye and will play against the winner of Butler vs. Georgetown (March 6) on March 7 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn.
As far as the upcoming March Madness schedule goes, Connecticut still remains the top overall seed in the most recent NCAA bracket reveal (as of print).
“When the NCAA Tournament begins, it’s not going to be as easy as we experienced, it last season. I think someone like Paige [Bueckers] can do that.” Auriemma said to the media postgame, “But we have enough good players to have as good a chance as anyone else out there to win a national championship.”
