STORRS — Despite an ugly opening quarter, the UConn women’s basketball team woke up in the second half against Holy Cross to rout the Crusaders 88-52 at Gampel Pavilion on Tuesday.
Freshman Sarah Strong propelled UConn to victory with a career-high 22 points shooting 9-for-12 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3-point range. Her four 3-pointers matched her career high with the Huskies, and she also added seven rebounds, two steals and two assists.
Princeton transfer Kaitlyn Chen also had her best performance in a UConn uniform, logging 14 points shooting 5-for-9 from the field. The fifth-year point guard also led the team with seven assists, and her three made 3-pointers tied a career-high.
The No. 2 Huskies (7-0) came out sluggish against Holy Cross (4-4), trailing for much of the first quarter after multiple minutes-long scoring droughts. The Crusaders were powered by junior guard Simone Foreman, who started 2-for-2 on 3-pointers, but the team didn’t shoot particularly well hitting just 23.1% from the field and 22.2% from 3-point range. UConn struggled to find any offensive rhythm going 2-for-9 from beyond the arc, and the team made just four field goals to lead just 11-10 after the first quarter.
Superstar guard Paige Bueckers had her least-productive game of the season against the Crusaders, starting 1-for-4 from the field with her lone make coming on a 3-pointer early in the second quarter. She was still impactful on the floor with six defensive rebounds in the first quarter, and she added a pair of assists and a steal before halftime, but she also gave up a turnover and picked up a foul. The redshirt senior finished with just 11 points shooting 4-for-9, though she found other ways to impact the Huskies with a team-high seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.
After she was held scoreless in the first, Strong dropped eight points in a row for UConn early in the second quarter to open up the team’s first double-digit lead, answering an outside shot from Holy Cross with a pull-up 3-pointer in transition after grabbing her first rebound of the game. She entered halftime with 12 points plus three rebounds and an assist without a single turnover, and she was the only player on UConn’s roster with multiple made field goals at the half. Freshman Morgan Cheli also hit a pair of clutch 3-pointers for the Huskies in the first half to match her career-high six points. But despite improvements in the second quarter, UConn led by just six at halftime.
Strong’s hand stayed hot in the third quarter, especially from 3-point range. She shot 100% from the field in the third and had surpassed her career high with more than two minutes left in the quarter. Sophomore KK Arnold also provided a spark off the bench with six points in the third quarter alone, and star guard Azzi Fudd hit her first 3-pointer of the game after going 0-2 in the first half to help the Huskies to a 57-39 lead at the end of the third. UConn controlled the final 10 minutes with a 23-0 run, and they outscored Holy Cross 31-13.
Fudd returned to the starting lineup for UConn in just her fourth game back from a season-ending ACL and meniscus tear suffered in Nov. 2023, and sophomore Ashlynn Shade moved into the bench rotation after starting the first six games of the year. Fudd had a solid showing making her first start in over a year, logging seven points shooting 50% from the field plus two steals in 18 minutes.
