UConn women’s basketball dispatched the USF Bulls with an 86-49 win on Sunday at Gampel Pavilion. The Huskies led wire-to-wire to improve to 34-0 over their former conference mate.
Paige Bueckers finished with 22 points on 9-10 shooting in just 28 minutes of action. Sarah Strong did a little bit of everything with 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Ashlynn Shade also reached double-figures with 15 points. Kaitlyn Chen chipped in with eight points and a team-high seven assists.
As a team, UConn shot 66.7 percent from the field in part thanks to a 24-27 day on layups.
UConn started quick, scoring on its first three possessions to jump out to a 7-0 lead which prompted Jose Fernandez to take a timeout. The Huskies extended the advantage to nine, but were slow to pull away from there. USF got hot from deep and hit three triples — 3/4 of its total — in quick succession to keep the score close.
Then UConn used an 11-0 run — aided by four straight missed free throws from the visitors — in the second quarter to build a cushion. Four different Huskies scored in that stretch while the defense held the Bulls without a basket for three and a half minutes. Shade drilled a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send UConn into the locker room with an 18-point lead.
After Bueckers scored 19 of the team’s 43 points in the first half, she started to get some help after the break. The Huskies extended the advantage past 30 despite getting just three points from the superstar. Strong and Shade were a big reason why, combining for 19 of UConn’s 30 third quarter points.
The Huskies let their youngsters and newcomers run the show in the fourth on the way to a 37-point victory.
With the win, UConn improves to 2-0 on the year. Next, the Huskies will head to Greensboro for their first test of the season against No. 15 North Carolina. Tip-off is set for Friday at 6 p.m. ET.
