UConn women’s basketball celebrated senior day by annihilating the Providence Friars on Sunday at Gampel Pavilion, 81-38.
Geno Auriemma started his four healthy seniors: Azzi Fudd, Serah Williams, Caroline Ducharme and Ayanna Patterson. It was Patterson’ first career start and Ducharme’s first since Nov. 19, 2023.
The Huskies got a balanced scoring effort in the victory. Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd led the team with just 13 points apiece but six other players totaled at least six points. KK Arnold flirted
with a triple-double, finishing with a career-high 10 assists to go with a season-high eight steals and eight points. Ashlynn Shade also stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, five rebounds and five steals while Jana El Alfy grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds.
As a team, UConn tied a single-game program record with 39 forced turnovers. The Huskies also got 57 bench points and assisted on 26 of 32 baskets.
After getting out to slow starts in each of its last two games, UConn reversed that trend in emphatic fashion. Providence scored the opening points before the Huskies answered with the next 18. The Huskies held the visitors to just two field goals in the first quarter while forcing 14 turnovers. At one point, the Friars coughed the ball up on eight straight possessions.
UConn kept rolling in the second period. The Huskies ripped off a 10-0 run and eventually took a 26-point lead into halftime.
Out of the break, UConn used an 8-0 burst to push the lead past 30 then followed it up with 11 straight points. In the end, the Huskies came away with a 43-point victory.
After the game, UConn honored its five seniors: Fudd, Ducharme, Williams, Patterson and Ice Brady.
With the win, the Huskies extends their winning streak to 45 games and improves to 29-0 on the season (18-0 Big East). Next, they’ll wrap up their regular season home slate when they take on Georgetown at PeoplesBank Arena on Thursday. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET on TNT and truTV.
