The No. 2 UConn Huskies righted the ship with a 91-79 victory over the No. 10 Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday at Gampel Pavilion.
Sarah Strong went off in the win with 39 points on 15-26 shooting — all career highs. She also matched her previous best with five made threes. It was the first time Strong has even surpassed the 30-point mark as a member of the Huskies.
Beyond the superstar, Blanca Quiñonez looked markedly better, matching a career-high with 21 points. KK Arnold also had a good day with 14 points and
five assists while Jovana Popovic chipped in with 10 points. Strong, Quiñonez, Arnold and Popovic combined for 85 of UConn’s 91 total points.
The Huskies got off to a slow start, making just one of their first four shots as Iowa ran out to a 12-7 lead.
Then Quiñonez checked in. The sophomore scored nine points in an 11-0 run to give UConn its first lead of the day. The Huskies never trailed again.
In the second quarter, Strong took over. She piled up 20 points in the frame, including 14 of UConn’s last 16 points before the half, capped off by a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Eight of the Huskies’ 16 shots in the quarter were taken by Strong. She went into the locker room with 26 points — half of UConn’s total.
The break didn’t slow her down. Strong matched her previous career-high of 29 with a triple, then surpassed it a few possessions later on a drive to the basket. Those buckets came amid a 14-0 run for the Huskies that pushed the lead to 27.
Iowa didn’t go away, though. In the fourth quarter, the visitors scored 14 of 16 points to cut the gap down to just 10. Quiñonez stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer at the 2:58 mark, though the Hawkeyes continued to battle. UConn held on long enough to earn a 12-point victory.
With the win, the Huskies improve to 2-1 on the season. Next, they’ll hit the road to take on No. 18 Ohio State on Thursday. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
