It took the UConn women’s basketball team a few minutes to shake off the holiday rust in Sunday’s Big East matchup on the road against Butler, but the game was all but over as soon as the Huskies settled in.
Butler hit its first four consecutive field goals to break open an early 10-6 lead in the first quarter, giving No. 1 UConn its first deficit in conference play this season. Even that brief stretch playing from behind seemed to light a fire under the Huskies, who finished the quarter on a 20-0 run. They held the Bulldogs scoreless for nearly 10 minutes as their dominance extended into the second quarter, and Butler didn’t make another field goal until there were three minutes left in the half.
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UConn went on to rout the Bulldogs 94-47, remaining undefeated in Big East play and improving to 13-0 on the season. The team has allowed more than 50 points just once in conference play when it gave up 53 to Marquette on Dec. 17.
The star duo of Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong once again powered the Huskies, but they got contributions from nearly everyone who saw the floor. UConn had 11 different players record points led by 15 from Strong, and Fudd added 13 shooting 5-for-7 from the field with a pair of made 3-pointers. Strong also led the team on the boards with six and added seven assists plus three steals.
Freshman forward Blanca Quinonez scored in double digits for the fourth consecutive game, finishing with 12 and going 5-for-7 from the field. It was also a big day off the bench for redshirt sophomore Ayanna Patterson, who is from Fort Wayne, Indiana just a few hours north of Butler’s home arena in Indianapolis. She recorded a season-high five points with four rebounds for her highest-scoring performance since the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
The Huskies’ defense was at the heart of the victory as it has been in nearly every game this season. Butler gave up a season-high 29 turnovers, and UConn capitalized with 48 points off of the lost possessions. Eight different players logged at least one steal led by four from junior guard Ashlynn Shade, who grew up in the suburbs of Indianapolis. The Huskies held Butler to a season-low 30.6% from the field and 33.3% beyond the arc.
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“We’ve got a group that really likes to play like that. They want to be aggressive,” coach Geno Auriemma told TNT at halftime. “With a team like Butler, they would use up the whole shot clock if you let them. They’re really disciplined with that, so we came into the game thinking that the faster we can make the game, the better for us.”
Though UConn was limited from 3-point range early with just seven attempts, it hit four and shot nearly 70% in the first half while holding Butler to only two field goals after the opening run. The Huskies forced eight turnovers during the Bulldogs’ seven-minute drought to end the first quarter, and by halftime the team had 32 of its 54 points off Butler’s lost possessions.
Fudd was hot early with seven points in the first shooting 3-for-4, but it was Quinonez who pulled the momentum back into UConn’s favor as soon as she checked in off the bench. The freshman had five points in her first two minutes on the court, knocking down the team’s first 3-pointer of the game then taking a steal coast-to-boast for a layup. She matched Fudd with seven first-quarter points before missing a single shot.
Strong had a sluggish start beginning the game 2-for-5 from the field, but she found her shot in the second quarter going 3-for-3 to enter halftime with 10 points. She then scored five in a row to set UConn on another 12-0 run early in the third quarter. Patterson added her first points during that run with an and-one layup that drew a massive cheer from the Hinkle Fieldhouse crowd.
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Butler didn’t hit its first field goal of the second half until sinking a 3-pointer nearly six minutes into the third, and it could do little to slow the Huskies down even as Auriemma went deep into the bench. Strong and Fudd didn’t play a single minute in the fourth quarter, but UConn still outscored the Bulldogs 16-14 in the final frame. The bench combined for 44 points in the victory.
