LOS ANGELES — When Blanca Quinonez checked in for the UConn women’s basketball team during the first quarter against USC on Saturday, there had already been eight lead changes and the Huskies were ahead by a single point.
Less than two minutes later, UConn had an 18-9 lead and never looked back.
Quinonez logged six straight points and a pair of steals in her first 90 seconds on the court, setting the tone for the No. 1 Huskies in a dominant 79-51 victory over the No. 16 Trojans at Galen Center. The freshman forward finished with 12 points plus four rebounds, two assists a team-high four steals off the bench for her most complete performance against a ranked opponent to date.
Star guard Azzi Fudd was UConn’s engine with a game-high 17 points, and she accounted for three of the Huskies’ seven made 3-pointers in the win. Fudd also spent most of her minutes guarding USC star Jazzy Davidson, helping hold the freshman phenom to 10 points shooting just 3-for-13 from the field.
UConn dismantled the Trojans on the defensive end, limiting them to a season-low 30.2% from the field and 4-for-19 on 3-pointers. The Huskies logged 26 points off 20 forced turnovers, but they also put together an impressively balanced effort offensively with four players scoring in double digits. Junior guard Ashlynn Shade dropped a season-best 15 points shooting 54.4% from the field with three made 3-pointers, and star forward Sarah Strong added 14 points plus seven rebounds, three assists, three blocks and three steals.
After trading buckets for the opening minutes, the Huskies went on a first-quarter run that quickly drained the energy from USC’s sold-out home arena. Senior center Serah Williams set the tone for UConn with six early points, but the team truly came alive once Quinonez checked in off the bench out of the media timeout. The freshman forward’s six points led UConn on a 10-0 run that broke open the first double-digit lead of the game.
After the Huskies started 0-for-4 from 3-point range, Fudd nailed one from the left wing in the final minutes of the first to help extend the run to 15 unanswered points. USC didn’t make a field goal for nearly seven minutes to end the quarter, and UConn kept Davidson scoreless until she ended her team’s scoring drought early in the second.
But the break in the run was brief, and USC’s offense continued to flounder through most of the second quarter. UConn held the Trojans without points for another six minutes and forced three turnovers during that stretch after Davidson’s layup.
UConn has struggled to maintain momentum in its most dominant performances this year, but there was no let up from the Huskies as they entered the third quarter with a 22-point lead. The Trojans scored a game-high 22 points out of halftime as shots began to fall, but UConn had an answer every time they tried to make a run. Shade caught fire with eight of her points coming in the third, while Fudd and Strong added seven apiece.
The Huskies took their foot off the gas in the fourth, once again going deep into the bench once their lead was comfortable. Twelve of the team’s 13 available players saw the court, though just four bench players scored points, and USC was able to outscore the reserve-heavy lineups 12-10 in the final quarter.
The Huskies were less efficient than they have been from the perimeter going 7-for-19, but they hit 47.7% from the field and had 25 assists on 31 made shots.