UConn women’s basketball moved on its 30th Elite Eight appearance in program history with a hard-fought 63-42 win over the 4-seed North Carolina Tar Heels at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on Friday. The Huskies finished with their lowest point total since the 2024 Sweet Sixteen against Duke, when they managed just 53.
They’ll advance to take on 6-seed Notre Dame in the regional final.
UConn set two NCAA single-season records in the victory. It recorded its 864th assist of the year, surpassing its own
2016-17 team, then snagged its 581st steal, toppling Grambling State’s 1996-97 squad.
Sarah Strong dominated with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five steals — all of which were game-highs. Blanca Quiñonez stepped up with 16 points and four steals while Azzi Fudd recovered from a rough start to put up 10 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals. Nobody else had more than four points for the Huskies.
As a team, UConn shot just 14-26 on layups and 4-20 from three. It forced 24 turnovers and turned them into 17 points the other way.
The Huskies’ offense struggled from the opening tip. After Fudd knocked down a stepback jumper for the first points of the day, they missed their next seven shots and went 4:02 without scoring again. While it didn’t go much better for UNC in the early going, which started 0-4 from the field, it scraped a 5-0 run to hand UConn its first deficit during the NCAA Tournament.
Quiñonez checked in at the 6:02 mark of the first quarter and immediately made an impact with seven of the Huskies’ next nine points to go along with a steal and an offensive rebound. Still, the Tar Heels closed the quarter on a 5-0 burst to go on top 12-11 after 10 minutes.
UConn started the second frame with eight straight points to go ahead for good. Strong came alive with three straight buckets and capped off the last one with a flex and scream. UNC battled back to within three on two separate occasions but the Huskies responded with the last five points of the half and took a 28-20 lead into the locker room.
Out of the break, UConn opened on a 7-0 run to push the gap to double-digits, prompting a timeout from the Tar Heels. The Huskies forced a stop on the ensuing possession then Fudd drilled a dagger triple — her first 3-pointer of the day — down the other end to extend the advantage to 18. North Carolina finally scored its first points of the second half at the 4:22 mark of the third quarter. By that point, UConn had built the difference to 40-22.
The Huskies ultimately outscored the Tar Heels 20-5 in the third and 37-13 across in the middle two periods.
UConn took its foot off the gas in the fourth quarter and gave up nine points just 3:36 — more than UNC put up in each of the previous two frames. It proved to be too little, too late, though. In the end, the Huskies pulled out a 63-42 victory.
Next, UConn will advance to take on 6-seed Notre Dame in the Elite Eight. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. ET/noon local time on Sunday from Fort Worth.
