NEW YORK — For the first half of the UConn women’s basketball team’s win over Iowa on Saturday, it seemed like the Huskies were going to live or die by the performance of Sarah Strong.
The sophomore forward accounted 20 of the team’s 42 points at halftime and was leading in rebounds, assists and steals. But after she almost single-handedly carried the UConn through the start of the game, redshirt senior guard Azzi Fudd came out of the halftime locker room on fire and took over the offensive spotlight.
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The superstar duo combined for 50 points to power the No. 1 Huskies in a 90-64 victory at Barclays Center over the No. 11 Hawkeyes. It was UConn’s fifth win over a ranked opponent this season.
“I think that’s an example of why our team is so special, is that at any moment anyone can go off and make shots,” Fudd said. “It can be Sarah, it can be me … it can be absolutely anyone, and I think we do a great job of playing unselfish basketball and just reading what the defense is giving us.”
Fudd, who ended the first half with just six points, finished with a team-high 27 shooting 45.8% from the field with five made 3-pointers, also adding four steals and three assists. Strong logged 23 points going 10-for-18 from the field and 3-for-9 from 3-point range. She led the Huskies in rebounds with seven and tied a career high in steals with six on top of four assists and a block.
“There’s an aura that she has where it never appears that she’s in a rush to do anything,” coach Geno Auriemma said of Strong. “Everything she does just seems to flow from a place where the game is like, in her soul … She’s growing in so many ways, and she helps her teammates grow as well.”
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After a sluggish start for both teams, UConn broke open the score with a 7-0 run during a two-minute stretch early in the first quarter that the Hawkeyes never recovered from. The Huskies finished the first holding Iowa to just 12 points on 4-for-11 shooting from the field. They took nearly twice as many field goal attempts as Iowa and scored 11 points off turnovers alone.
Iowa cut UConn’s lead to as little as six early in the second quarter, but freshman forward Blanca Quinonez helped shift the momentum back in the Huskies’ favor with a pair of steals in less than 30 seconds, and she capitalized on the first with an and-1 layup.
UConn’s post players rose to the challenge of matching Iowa’s size, keeping leading scorer Ava Heiden to just two points before halftime, but Iowa battled back as it warmed up from 3-point range. The Hawkeyes sank five of their 11 made field goals in the first half from beyond the arc while the Huskies struggled from range going 3-for-11, and they outscored Iowa just 20-19 in the second quarter to end the half with an 11-point lead.
Immediately out of halftime, it became clear that UConn’s 3-point slump was over. The Huskies hit five outside shots in the third quarter alone, opening on three consecutive makes from KK Arnold, Ashlynn Shade and Strong. Arnold also connected on a 3-pointer in the first half, marking her first game this season with multiple makes from the perimeter.
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“It’s just not really thinking about it, just stepping into my shot and knocking it down,” Arnold said. “I have teammates that believe in me just telling me knock it down, shoot it, keep shooting even if I miss the first one or the second. I feel like (it’s) also the work that I put in over the summer just knowing I can knock it down with confidence.”
Fudd looked hesitant for much of the game after her slow shooting start, going 0-for-3 from 3-point range before halftime. But the Huskies’ sharpshooter finally found her rhythm midway through the third quarter after she missed her fifth 3-point attempt, getting the ball back off an offensive rebound by Strong and nailing the second chance. She hit a layup seconds later to break double digits.
The Huskies’ offense stymied later in the quarter, going more than three minutes without points until Fudd who snapped the drought with her second 3-pointer of the day. Quinonez added her second steal-and-score to set UConn on another run, and a last-second layup from sophomore Kayleigh Heckel assisted by Fudd put the Huskies back ahead by 21 at the end of the third.
Quinonez added her first 3-pointer for UConn to open the fourth quarter, and Fudd scored another 13 points in the fourth to end the second half with 21. The Huskies finished shooting 52.2% from the field and 44.8% from 3-point range, and they scored 41 points off 26 Iowa turnovers. It was a season-high in turnovers by the Hawkeyes, and UConn’s 17 steals were the most they’ve logged against a ranked opponent this year.
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“A lot of teams, when they full court press, they kind of drop their shoulders when you advance it,” Iowa coach Jan Jensen said. “They do not. It’s like they get you across half court, and then they just get a little bit more intense. That’s what impresses me … and I think they’re turning people over, and they’re causing people havoc.”
