Uncasville, Conn. – Some may know her as KK Arnold, but some may also know her as the masked menace.
On Sunday afternoon, as the top-ranked UConn women’s basketball program defeated Creighton, 100-51, in the semifinals of the Big East tournament, Arnold and sophomore Sarah Strong were catalysts for their squads on both sides of the ball.
Throughout her junior year campaign, Arnold has made it her goal to sharpen her skills as a leader and defender, eventually earning Big East All-Defensive Team honors just this past week.
Against the Bluejays, Arnold propelled her squad to their sixth consecutive Big East Tournament Championship. The guard finished the afternoon with 18 points, four assists and a rebound, shooting 8-9 from the field and 2-3 from three.
With this stat line, Arnold recorded a new season-high in points, which she previously set with 13 against Villanova on Jan. 15.
“We all had that confidence in her before, but to see her on the floor, being that floor general, leading us, taking shots, whether it’s a three, a pull up, see how she uses the rim, getting in the paint, making space for everyone,” Azzi Fudd said to the media postgame when asked about Arnold. “You feel that presence, offensively and defensively.”
Strong dominated in every aspect of the box score for her squad, drawing up 23 points, seven rebounds, six steals, and four blocks in 25 minutes of work.
Head coach Geno Auriemma described Strong’s basketball IQ to the media as a “rare combination.”
“I think she has a really good idea of where the ball is going, and she has tremendous confidence in herself, and it’s not something that anyone’s taught her how to do all this stuff, you know […] she’s just really, really smart, really intuitive.”
Right off the bat, the Huskies proved why they were the juggernaut of the Big East for the 2025-26 season.
With their persistent full-court pressure, the Huskies racked up four steals within the first five minutes of the game, put 29 points up on the board in the first frame alone, shooting 80% from beyond the arc.
At the end of the first frame, the Huskies made 12 out of 19 field goals, which was more than the Bluejays even attempted in the first quarter, with 10.
While Creighton started to work their way up to the Huskies to cut their deficit, including freshman Ava Zediker 2-3 from the field, the Huskies still maintained a comfortable lead of 57-22.
“The way the game started, the defensive pressure that KK [Arnold] was able to put on Ava [Zediker] their point guard, I thought was really a big part of why we had all such quick start defensively and everyone else just kind of, you know, filled in, and we did a phenomenal job of taking all of their best actions that they want to use away from them.” Auriemma said in his opening statement.
In the second half, the bench was integral for the Huskies to maintain their lead. Redshirt sophomore Jana El Alfy was a force at the boards for the Huskies, grabbing seven rebounds, five of them on the defensive end.
Sophomores Allie Ziebell and Kayleigh Heckel were also assertive for their squad off the bench in the second half. Heckel’s ball movement was imperative to solidify her program’s win, dishing out seven assists.
“I’m not of the opinion that we’re better, we’re different, you know,” Auriemma said to the media when asked how he feels this year’s roster’s dominance compares to last year with Paige Bueckers. “We play a different style of play that we played last year, the results seem to be kind of sort of the same as they were last year, just a different way of going about it.”
Connecticut will now shift their focus the Big East Championship where they will take on the No. 2 seeded Villanova Wildcats.
The last time these two foes faced one another was on Feb. 18, where the Huskies defeated the Wildcats 83-69. Despite Connecticut’s eventual 14-point win, things were down to the wire in the beginning of the game with the Wildcats having the lead at the half.
On Villanova’s squad, the Huskies will need to look out for sophomore guard Jasmine Bascoe, who led the league with points per game with 18.7 points per game and led the Big East in assists with 146.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Husky fans can tune in to the game on NBC Sports Network or through streaming on Peacock.