NEW YORK — For the first time since 2018, the UConn women’s basketball team is headed into the postseason with a perfect record.
The No. 1 Huskies completed their undefeated regular season in historic fashion on Sunday night, dominating St. John’s 85-49 in the first-ever standalone college women’s basketball game played at Madison Square Garden. The 9,612 fans in the building shattered the St. John’s program record for home attendance.
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With its 47th consecutive win, UConn tied the fifth-longest winning streak in women’s basketball history and the fourth in program history set from 2013-15. The Huskies also finished their third straight unbeaten season in Big East play, winning a program-record 20th conference game.
The victory was a return to form for UConn after struggling with sluggish performances down the stretch of Big East play. For the first time since a Feb. 4 win at DePaul, the Huskies led wire-to-wire at the Garden, and they never looked out of control at either end of the floor.
All-American sophomore Sarah Strong anchored the team with 11 points, seven rebounds, and four assists, and she also tied a career high with six steals. But behind the superstar forward, every player in the core rotation made an impact. Star guard Azzi Fudd led the team in scoring with 14 points and added two steals, and senior center Serah Williams came a point shy of tying her season high, scoring 11 on 5-for-6 shooting plus six rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
The Huskies smothered St. John’s from the tipoff, breaking open an 11-point lead before the Red Storm even hit a second field goal. Junior guard Ashlynn Shade put up all seven of her points in the first, but the UConn offense was a balanced effort from the start with eight different players scoring. The team also had one of its better starts on the boards, logging seven second-chance points and out-rebounding St. John’s 4-1 on the offensive glass.
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Coach Geno Auriemma spent extended stretches in the first half experimenting with lineups he’s rarely used through most of the season. Redshirt sophomore Jana El Alfy got a rare early opportunity, coming in first off the bench before the three-minute mark of the first quarter, and Auriemma also took Strong off the floor for several stretches to see the team’s other post players navigate without her presence.
Williams got going in the second quarter playing in the team’s supersized lineup alongside Strong and Quinonez, scoring back-to-back layups after St. John’s opened on four straight points. Sophomore guard Allie Ziebell also thrived in the post-heavy group, driving for a layup off a Strong assist then rebounding a Williams block that she took to the rim on the next possession.
UConn entered halftime without a player scoring in double digits, but eight of the nine who saw the floor were on the board. Despite going 3-for-10 from beyond the arc, the team shot 56% from the field and had 24 points of their 43 points in the paint.
The Huskies’ shooters warmed up out of halftime, and the team connected four times from the perimeter in the third quarter alone. Fudd knocked down her first of the game after an 0-for-4 start, and Arnold also hit her first 3-pointer since a Feb. 7 win over Butler. Ziebell drained a pair of deep shots in the second half to finish with 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field.
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Though UConn allowed 29 points in the second half after giving up just 20 in the first, the Red Storm never put a real dent in the Huskies’ lead. The Huskies finished shooting 57.1% from the field and 39.1% on 3-pointers, also scoring 25 points off of 22 forced turnovers.
