There’s just something about UConn women’s basketball, Gampel Pavilion and March, that just work well together.
On Saturday afternoon, the top-seeded UConn women’s basketball squad defeated the UTSA Roadrunners, 90-52, to commence their quest for the program’s 13th National Championship.
Despite players like Azzi Fudd and KK Arnold finding themselves in foul trouble, Sarah Strong and Ashlynn Shade as well as the Huskies’ bench players stepped up to propel the squad for the win.
Shade crossed the 1,000 career point threshold on the day, racking up 14 points and seven rebounds, six of those rebounds coming from the defensive end.
“She [Shade] does everything so hard […] her passing, her ball handling, her defense, like everything she does, you know she’s there.” Fudd said postgame, “She [Fudd] is the glue that keeps us together because she does all the little things right there in the hustle plays and all those things that you need.”
Strong also had a dominant outing, putting up 18 points, five rebounds, five steals and four assists. With this stat line, Strong is the first player in UConn’s history with 600 points and 100 steals, as only just a sophomore, per ESPN on Twitter.
“There’s just so many ways that she can put points on the board, and when the other guys are making a bunch of threes, then great, you know?” Head Coach Geno Auriemma said to the media postgame, “But nights like tonight, days like today, is when you realize how much she adds to your team in so many ways.”
Throughout the beginning of the first quarter, both squads struggled to keep getting consistent shots up. Despite that, though, the Huskies utilized their persistent defense they’ve been putting on display throughout the entire regular season.
Even with Fudd and Arnold both committing three personal fouls, respectively in the first and second quarters, Connecticut completely shut down UTSA’s offensive abilities.
By forcing the Roadrunners to make a total of nine turnovers over the duration of the first half, UConn managed to keep UTSA shooting only 27.3% (6-22) from the field and 20% from beyond the arc (1-5).
Heading into halftime, the Huskies led 48-14.
“You’re kind of a little bit out of sorts from not playing, and everybody’s trying so hard to make it work. So, it took us a little while to get going.” Auriemma said to the media in his opening statement regarding his squad’s first half.
To kick off the third quarter, the Huskies continued their momentum, while many players from the bench contributed to polish the squads shooting.
This includes freshman Blanca Quiñonez, who has been an imperative contributor to her squad off the bench through their entire 2025-2026 campaign.
“I mean, she’s just a little spark off the bench.” Strong said when asked about Quiñonez post-game, “I feel like her defensive and offensive intensity kind of gets us going. She can do a little bit of everything, she can play everywhere.”
Off the bench, Quiñonez put up 15 points on the board with five rebounds and three steals.
When asked about the freshman, Auriemma highlighted the Ecuador native’s resilience as one of her greatest atrributes.
“There’s skills that she has, there’s a way of playing the game that she has the ability to impact it so many different ways. And I think that’s, you know, that’s her biggest attribute, is she’s kind of fearless, you know.” Auriemma said about Quiñonez to the media.
The bench put 36 of the Huskies’ 90 points on the board to propel the squad to their win, despite the Roadrunners shooting above 50% from the field in the entire second half.
“We ran into a team that is really, really, really good […] I think it was a matchup that was probably pretty difficult for us, but I do want to commend our team for continuing to compete.” UTSA Head Coach Karen Aston said on UConn’s squad.
With this win, the Huskies will advance to the round of 32 in the Division I women’s basketball NCAA tournament. The Huskies will shift their focus to the No. 8-seeded Syracuse. They will play the Orange on Monday evening at Gampel Pavilion.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. Husky fans can tune in to the game on ESPN.