UConn women’s basketball survives ugly start to beat North Carolina 63-42, advance to Elite Eight
FORT WORTH, Texas — The UConn women’s basketball team’s start against North Carolina in the Sweet 16 could have been disastrous, but the undefeated Huskies were not about to allow a chance at back-to-back national championships slip away so easily. It took a heroic effort from All-American sophomore Sarah Strong and freshman standout Blanca Quinonez to propel the No. 1 Huskies back to the Elite Eight for the third year in a row with a 63-42 victory over the 4-seed Tar Heels on Friday.
Strong dominated with her first double-double of the 2026 postseason, logging 21 points on 9-for-17 shooting plus 10 rebounds, five steals and two blocks. Quinonez added 16 points going 7-for-11 from the field, and she accounted for half of the team’s made 3-pointers hitting 2-of-3. After entering halftime with just two points, star guard Azzi Fudd got going in the third quarter to finish with 10 plus a team-high five assists and three steals.
Fudd also made the assist to junior guard KK Arnold for a layup midway through the third that set the NCAA record for team single-season assists. UConn finished the game with 872 assists this season, breaking the mark previously set by the 2016-17 Huskies. UConn also set the NCAA record for single-season steals when senior center Serah Williams grabbed the team’s 16th in the fourth quarter.
The Huskies finished the game with 18 steals to get to 583 on the season, surpassing the 580 steals by Grambling in 1996-97. With the win over North Carolina, UConn advances to the Elite Eight for the 30th time in program history. The top-seeded Huskies face longtime rival Notre Dame on Sunday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas after the 6-seed Fighting Irish upset 2-seed Vanderbilt earlier Friday.
UConn looked nothing like the team that strung together a 31-0 run against Syracuse just four days ago, coming out stagnant offensively and seemingly unable to hit shots that are usually automatic for the reigning national champions. After Fudd opened the game with a stepback jumper, the Huskies missed seven consecutive field goals on a four-minute scoring drought and trailed North Carolina for more most of the first quarter. It was the first deficit the team had faced in the tournament this year.