A monster second half from Sarah Strong powered the No. 4 UConn Huskies past the No. 17 Ohio State Buckeyes on the road Thursday, 87-55. The junior spent the final 12:02 of the first half on the bench with two fouls, which allowed the Buckeyes to pull within three at the break. Out of the locker room, Strong exploded 20 points in the second half — as many as Ohio State had as a team — while UConn outscored the hosts 49-20 over the final 20 minutes.
The Huskies never trailed.
Strong ultimately finished
with 25 points while setting a career-high with seven made 3-pointers on just eight attempts. She also had nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Olivia Vukosa put together the best game of her young career in the win. She kept the Huskies afloat in the first half and ended with a final line of eight points, 12 rebounds — eight of which were offensive — six rebounds and two blocks.
Beyond that, KK Arnold and Ashlynn Shade made big contributions. Arnold totaled 10 points, five assists and five steals despite also dealing with first-half foul trouble, while Ashlynn Shade added 15 points.
UConn won in spite of quiet nights from Jovana Popovic (two points) and Blanca Quiñonez (zero points).
After committing 13 turnovers in the first half, the Huskies only coughed the ball up three times over the final two quarters. Beyond that, they assisted on 24 of 32 buckets, got 31 points from their bench and shot 14-27 from three.
Early on, UConn ran out to a 12-2 lead and eventually pushed the gap to 13. Then, Strong picked up two fouls in the span of just 14 seconds and went to the bench with 2:02 left in the opening quarter. Ohio State capitalized by closing the frame on a 12-4 run that cut the Huskies’ advantage down to five.
With Strong sidelined — and Quiñonez and Arnold quick to join her after they both picked up a pair of fouls as well — the second period turned into a defensive slugfest as the two teams combined for just 24 points. While the Huskies held the Buckeyes without a basket for the first 4:54, they only managed four points in that same span. UConn had as many turnovers (five) as made baskets in the quarter but went into the locker room with a narrow 38-35 lead.
Out of the half, Strong took over. She drilled a 3-pointer on the Huskies’ first possession, then followed it up with another a minute later. Strong ended up scoring UConn’s first five baskets en route to 17 points in the third quarter. Ohio State, meanwhile, had just 11 points in the period.
The Buckeyes never recovered. The Huskies pushed their lead over 20 for good early in the fourth quarter and kept their foot on the gas on their way to a 32-point victory.
With the win, UConn improves to 3-1 on the season. Next, it’ll travel to take on No. 7 Louisville on Sunday. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
