Blanca Quinonez #4 of the Connecticut Huskies drives to the rim against Ashley Childers #10 of the Cornell Big Red during the first half of an NCAA men’s exhibition basketball game at PeoplesBank Arena on November 02, 2026 in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)
Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images
UConn’s Blanca Quiñonez smiles before a preseason exhibition game against Syracuse at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., Monday, October 12, 2026.
Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media
UConn’s Blanca Quinonez (4) dives for a loose ball between South Carolina’s Madina Okot (11) and South Joyce Edwards (8) in the Final Four game at the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Arizona Friday, April 3, 2026.
Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media
UConn guard Blanca Quinonez (4) shoots over North Carolina’s Nyla Brooks (7) in the first half in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 27, 2026, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Julio Cortez/AP
HARTFORD — The UConn women’s basketball team started the season on Monday, looking like a finished product in one particularly important way.
The top of the roster was present and accounted for, the new “Big Three” sharing the court for the first time.
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Sarah Strong. Blanca Quiñonez. Jovana Popovic. If the trio hasn’t yet earned that moniker, it has the potential to by the time 2026 turns to 2027 or winter turns to spring. Certainly UConn is well-served to have them together, working toward that, while navigating another loaded early-season nonconference schedule.
Anyway, it was 70 degrees outside on Monday, and hardly anything about the front end of this downtown doubleheader resembled what is eventually to come. UConn’s 100-35 victory over Cornell was a ho-hum opener, to say the least, that wasn’t even half the battle that preseason exhibitions were. The thick of March Madness was still way off in the distance, four-plus months away.
But at least we got a look at what UConn will ride toward its March and April destinations. Quiñonez, sidelined for what felt like forever with a shoulder injury, checked into Monday’s game with 5:50 left in the first quarter and finished with four points in 15 minutes. She sat out, or was limited during, the entirety of the offseason, all the expectations and attention around Geno Auriemma’s 42nd UConn team growing around her.
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The Huskies, as always, are stacked — well beyond those three players, of course — with the look and feel of a team that is both deep and top-heavy. Strong is the known, the reigning national player of the year. Popovic has been the pleasant surprise, a newcomer from Serbia who dazzled in the preseason. And Quiñonez is the player with such a high floor and, perhaps, a sky-high ceiling.
Auriemma said at Big East media day on Oct. 1 that he wouldn’t be surprised if she emerged this season as a first-team All-American. Strong, almost certainly, will earn that honor again. Eight times, UConn has had two first-team All-Americans, including Strong and Azzi Fudd in 2025-26.
Quiñonez was tremendous last season, a little inconsistent and erratic to start — typical freshman adjustments — but arguably UConn’s best player in the postseason. A 6-foot-2 forward, she was named Big East freshman and sixth woman of the year, earning all-conference’s second-team honors. She averaged 10.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, two steals while shooting 53.2 percent from the field and 37.5 percent on 3-pointers.
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It’s impossible to say to what degree Quiñonez is comfortable right now, having just returned after all the rehabilitation and time away. She missed eight games last season with the shoulder injury and had surgery in May.
But this much is all but certain: She will be, eventually, even better than she was in 2025-26 and healthier over the long haul. The first step was just getting back on the court, back in the lineup.
Every UConn player was set up to look good on Monday. Cornell was just that overmatched. The Huskies trailed 3-2 and soon led 23-3. It was 40-5 after KK Arnold leapt for a steal and converted a layup.
Quiñonez, of Ecuador, scored her first points of the season soon after checking in, with two free throws after being fouled inside with 4:55 left in the first quarter. She added a reverse layup just over a minute later, mixing into this easy run-through of a show. She wound up shooting 1-for-4 from the field with three rebounds on a night and was one of 10 UConn players on the court for at least 13 minutes.
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The score was 46-13 at halftime because Cornell connected on a couple late 3-pointers. The Huskies led by 49 early in the fourth quarter. What else is there to say about a game like this? It was ridiculous, valuable to Cornell in that it came with a paycheck and valuable to UConn in that it at least allowed players to break a sweat in an official setting in advance of Thursday’s game at No. 5 Michigan. Strong and Popovic each had 19 points and sat out the fourth quarter.
Back home on Sunday, at the newly-renamed M&T Bank Center at Gampel Pavilion, UConn hosts No. 10 Iowa. Then there’s a trip to Ohio State, another to Louisville, a game against top-ranked South Carolina down at Mohegan Sun.
This will quickly feel like an actual season. The Huskies will be tested well before New Year’s. With Quinonez back, they’re not going about any of this shorthanded.
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