WASHINGTON — The UConn women’s basketball team missed 10 straight 3-pointers before Sarah Strong got the first one to fall in Thursday’s game at Georgetown, but even a rollercoaster offensive performance did little slow the Huskies down.
Strong showed her usual dominance in the 83-42 rout at CareFirst Arena. The All-American sophomore finished with 25 points shooting 10-for-17 from the field, and she led UConn beyond the arc going 3-for-7. She added a team-high eight rebounds and five assists plus four steals and a block.
Arlington, Va., native Azzi Fudd also put on a strong showing for the throng of supporters decked out in No. 35 gear in her final collegiate homecoming game despite going just 3-for-12 on her signature 3-pointers. The redshirt senior had 19 points and matched Strong’s five assists on top of two steals.
“I’m just super proud of being from here as I play, and coming back playing here is super special,” Fudd said postgame. “A lot of friends and family are here. Both of my grandparents, my dad’s parents and my mom’s mom, they don’t come to too many games because they don’t travel as much. I think this was my grandma’s second in-person game with me actually playing, so definitely very grateful, and I feel very loved on today.”
Senior center Serah Williams also finished with 12 points and six rebounds plus four blocks and three steals for her second straight game scoring in double digits.
Though it had a dismal 8-for-29 night from 3-point range as a team, UConn got points from 10 of 12 players who saw the floor and shot 51.6% from the field. The Huskies improved to 20-0 and 10-0 in Big East play with the victory, extending a streak of wins by 25-plus points to 15 games.
As it has in almost every game the season, the Huskies’ dominance began as soon as the tipoff landed in point guard KK Arnold‘s hands. The team started the first quarter on a 10-0 run, forcing four Georgetown turnovers with three steals over a three-and-a-half-minute stretch. Sophomore guard Ashlynn Shade powered UConn’s defensive effort with three steals in the first, and the Huskies ended the quarter with 10 of their 20 points coming off Hoyas turnovers.
After leading by as many as 18 points, UConn turned the ball over three times in three minutes to allow Georgetown an 8-0 run to finish the quarter. But the Hoyas’ moment of hope was short-lived when Strong drained her first 3-pointer early in the second off of a fifth steal by Shade.
Fudd missed a seventh 3-pointer — 11 in a row including her 0-for-4 performance Monday against Notre Dame — to start the second, but the Huskies’ sharpshooter wasn’t shaken and finally knocked down her first shot from deep 90 seconds after Strong connected. The redshirt senior looked visibly relieved to see the ball drop, and she cashed another attempt from deep later in the quarter to enter halftime with 14 points.
“I’m not really sure I felt (the slump) break, but I think just telling myself to keep shooting, the next one is going in,” Fudd said. “Our team is full of great shooters, so when Sarah misses or when anyone misses I’m like okay cool, same thing for them: The next one’s going in, keep shooting, just trying to keep them confident.”
The Huskies outscored the Hoyas 31-10 in the second quarter, and its shooting numbers improved dramatically at every level to nearly 65% from the field and 5-for-11 on 3-pointers. Strong accounted for three of those single-handedly, finishing the first half with 21 points and a single missed field-goal attempt.
After a Strong steal-and-score to kick off the third-quarter scoring, UConn’s offense went cold for more than four minutes with six consecutive missed attempts. But as usual, the Huskies leaned on their defense with another five forced turnovers in the first six minutes of the quarter, and they held the Hoyas to six points during their drought until freshman Blanca Quinonez put them back on the board.
UConn won the third quarter just 9-8, and the teams combined for seven made field goals and eight turnovers.
“I’ve said all season long, I’ll start worrying when we can’t get open shots. If we get a bunch of open shots, and we don’t make them, I can’t complain. I do, but I can’t really complain,” coach Geno Auriemma joked postgame. “I think sometimes because we make so many — for as bad as we shot in the third quarter, we still ended up shooting 51% from the floor, so our guys think that every shot is going in.”
For the first time in Big East play, Auriemma kept Fudd and Strong on the floor to begin the fourth quarter, and the Huskies quickly reestablished themselves with a 10-0 run that featured four different scorers. Redshirt sophomore Ayanna Patterson hit an and-1 layup that sophomore Allie Ziebell followed up with a 3-pointer, and Fudd hit her first field goal of the second half off an offensive rebound she put back. Strong then added a layup off an Arnold steal, and the Hoyas went three minutes without point during the run.
The Huskies held Georgetown to its second-lowest scoring performance of the season and forced a season-worst 28 turnovers that they converted into 35 points. The Hoyas shot just 28.6% from the field and 1-for-19 from 3-point range, marking their first game of the season without multiple makes beyond the arc.
“This is probably top to bottom, since I’ve been here, this is the best team (UConn) has had,” Georgetown coach Darnell Haney said. “But 28 turnovers is unacceptable. There’s no way we’re going to be able to win a game or even be in a game (like that) … The shots fall where they may, but we couldn’t have those live-ball turnovers leading into the layups. Especially in the first half, that hurt us.”