For all the success of the UConn women’s basketball program, none of its alumni had ever won the WNBA 3-point contest — until Friday. Azzi Fudd followed up a 24-point performance in the opening round with a monster 30-point showing in the final to claim the 2026 crown. Not only is she the first Husky to win the WNBA 3-point contest, she’s also the first rookie.
“This is what you do every single day as a basketball player,” Fudd told ESPN. “I just want to see the ball go in.”
Fudd beat out the Portland Fire’s Bridget Carlton (29 points in the opening round) in the championship and came out on top in a field that also featured the Seattle Storm’s Natisha Hiedeman, the Atlanta Dream’s Rhyne Howard, the Toronto Tempo’s Marina Mabrey and the Golden State Valkyries’ Janelle Salaun.
In the first round, Fudd made 17 of 27 shots but came up clutch by hitting one logo shot worth three points and five money balls worth two points each. She racked up 24 points, which was enough to move on to the final.
In the title round, Fudd went first and started strong by making all five shots on the opening rack. She then went 3-5 on the second rack, drilled the logo shot, made 4-5 from the top of the arc, hit all but one shot on the money rack and then sank her final four attempts to finish with 30 points.
Carlton couldn’t keep up. Despite a 4-5 showing on the money rack, she finished with just 19 points on 13-27 shooting.
Once Fudd was confirmed as the winner, former teammates KK Arnold and Kelis Fisher rushed the court to celebrate with her and threw a bedazzled necklace with a SportsCenter Top 10 pendant around her neck. Paige Bueckers, Kaitlyn Chen and Sarah Strong also watched on from the crowd. After Fudd accepted the trophy, a couple of her teammates with the Dallas Wings — Jessica Shepard and Alysha Clark — celebrated by spraying her with water bottles.
“Those are my girls,” Fudd said of the support. “To have them here supporting me means everything. To have my teammates over here, AC (Clark) in my jersey, she looks good in 35.”
In the previous 12 editions of the WNBA 3-point contest, a former UConn player had participated eight times. In total, nine Huskies have taken part: Diana Taurasi (2006-08), Sue Bird (2009-10), Swin Cash (2010), Maya Moore (2017), Renee Montgomery (2018), Kia Nurse (2019, Stefanie Dolson (2024) and Fudd (2026).
WNBA All-Star Weekend continues with the All-Star Game on Saturday from the United Center in Chicago. Paige Bueckers, Breanna Stewart and Gabby Williams are the representatives from UConn and will all start for Team Coop. Tip-off is set for 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
