Nov. 7—HARTFORD — Sarah Strong ended the first half of her opening game for the second-ranked UConn women’s basketball team with a layup to beat the buzzer.
And she opened the second half on a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock.
On a day where five UConn players made successful debuts in a season-opening 86-32 romp over Boston University, forcing 33 BU turnovers, one of the most successful belonged to Strong, a 6-foot-2 freshman forward and the former No. 1 player in the nation.
Already clutch and — missing a shot as the third quarter wore on, which drew a collective groan from the XL Center crowd of 13,355 — already a fan favorite.
Strong led the way for UConn on Thursday with 17 points, six steals, four rebounds and three assists, while redshirt freshman forward Jana El Alfy also impressed in her first game with the Huskies with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
“It just speaks to their confidence and how hard they’re working at practice and how much they’ve been learning and how much their aggression level means for this team when they’re looking to score,” said UConn All-American Paige Bueckers, sitting between El Alfy and Strong at the postgame press conference.
“We have a heavy post presence. For them to set the tone like this at the start of the season is huge for what we can be as a team.”
Bueckers, beginning her final season for the Huskies, had 13 points, seven assists, five steals and four rebounds in 24 minutes and sophomore Ashlynn Shade had 10 points and tied Strong for a team high with six steals.
Graduate transfer Kaitlyn Chen (four points, five assists) and freshmen Allie Ziebell (six points) and Morgan Cheli (three points) also appeared for the first time in a UConn uniform.
The Huskies went with the same starting lineup they employed during a 40-point exhibition win earlier this week, with Bueckers, Shade and Chen in the backcourt to go with forwards Strong and Ice Brady.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma commented that out of the Huskies’ 10 available players Thursday, all of whom scored, half of them were newcomers.
“We know what these players can do,” Auriemma said. “Some of the stuff that they’re going to have to do is going to take some time, but that’s half your team that’s never played.
“We have too big of a gap between where Paige is right now and her level of development and too many young guys and we need to bridge that gap in the middle somehow. Maybe when Azzi (Fudd) comes back (from injury) that helps or when Aubrey (Griffin) comes back.
“Right now it’s going to look amazingly, the cohesiveness, and it’s going to look like we just met each other on 84 West coming out this way.”
UConn didn’t have to worry much about the latter scenario in its opener.
BU turned the ball over 19 times in the first half, leading to 28 UConn points, as the Huskies sprinted to a 60-13 lead at halftime.
Strong scored at the halftime buzzer on the front of a fast break, assisted by Qadence Samuels, and led the Huskies in scoring at the half with 12 points on 6 of 8 shooting. Bueckers had 11 points and five assists, while Shade also had double figures with 10 points.
UConn had a 15-0 run in the first quarter, capped by a pair of free throws from Bueckers at the 59.1-second mark. Strong, Bueckers and Shade each had three steals in the first half, during which Auriemma shuffled his lineup often, with El Alfy and sophomore KK Arnold the first off the bench.
“That first half, we played a half that we hoped we would play and then we wanted to work on some things in the second half and it showed us that we have a lot to work on,” Auriemma said. “Which is good. … We did great contributions from a lot of people. It was a good start all around.”
UConn, which goes to 43-8 all-time in season-openers with 29 straight victories, next plays at 4:30 p.m. Sunday against South Florida at Gampel Pavilion before heading to play North Carolina on Nov. 15 in Greensboro.
It was the 1,214th career win for Auriemma, who is two wins from tying recently retired Stanford coach Tara Vanderveer as the all-time wins leader in Division I college basketball.
And more
UConn will kick off the 2025-26 season vs. Louisville in the 2025 Armed Forces Classic at Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany, the team announced Thursday.
It will be the first women’s basketball matchup in the Armed Forces Classic. The Huskies and Cardinals will face off on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025.
“We want to do as much as we possibly can, both personally and team-wise, to support our armed forces,” Auriemma said. “I’m glad we’re getting the opportunity to go overseas and have many of our military members see us play in person. I know it’ll be an experience of a lifetime for everyone in our program.”
The game will be televised on ESPN.
The Huskies also announced that Bueckers and Azzi Fudd were named to the Wooden Award Preseason Women’s Top 50 Watch List, as announced by the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
