{"id":548142,"date":"2026-01-20T04:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T04:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/548142\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T04:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T04:04:13","slug":"uconn-womens-basketball-makes-history-with-notre-dame-rout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/548142\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn women’s basketball makes history with Notre Dame rout"},"content":{"rendered":"

STORRS \u2014 Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo<\/a>\u2018s reign of terror against the UConn women\u2019s basketball<\/a> team ended in historic fashion on Monday night at Gampel Pavilion when the Huskies reclaimed their crown in the rivalry for the first time since 2021.<\/p>\n

No. 1 UConn preserved its undefeated record with an 85-47 victory over the Fighting Irish, holding Hidalgo to 16 points after the All-American junior averaged a 30-point double-double against the Huskies across the last two seasons. Hidalgo shot 33% from the field and 1-for-6 on 3-pointers, also giving up three turnovers with just two assists.<\/p>\n

UConn\u2019s 38-point win was the largest in the history of its series with Notre Dame, shattering the previous record of 27 points set by the 2002 Huskies who went undefeated and won the NCAA Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The coaches) had a great scout \u2014 I mean, we went over everything,\u201d star guard Azzi Fudd<\/a> said. \u201cDefense is something we\u2019ve really taken pride in this season, but we felt really prepared, really confident, we knew our scout. So I think the feeling going in was just excitement, energy, and really having that confidence knowing that we were prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophomore phenom Sarah Strong<\/a> was dominant on both ends of the floor, logging her sixth double-double of the season with 18 points on 66.7% shooting plus 11 rebounds, three assists, three blocks and three steals. She became the third-fastest player in UConn history to surpass 1,000 career points in her 59th game, trailing only all-time greats Maya Moore<\/a> and Paige Bueckers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe doesn\u2019t need a lot of shots,\u201d coach Geno Auriemma said. \u201cShe\u2019s so efficient. I\u2019m not surprised that she\u2019s gotten to 1000 this quickly, because it\u2019s consistent every night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind Strong, the Huskies put together one of their most complete team performances of the season with seven different players scoring at least eight points and all five starters finishing in double digits. Fudd and KK Arnold<\/a>, who bore the brunt of the defensive assignment on Hidalgo, were the team\u2019s second- and third-highest scorers respectively, and Arnold had a team-high five assists plus two steals.<\/p>\n

Despite going 0-for-4 on 3-pointers, Fudd logged 15 points and shot 7-for-9 inside the arc.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe didn\u2019t shoot the ball great for her, but she stayed in that aggressive mode,\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cI like that she got into the lane and found other ways to score besides just relying on her 3-ball, and I thought defensively she impacted the game. That\u2019s what really good players do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UConn'sUConn’s Sarah Strong, left, Azzi Fudd, center left, Blanca Quinonez, center right, and Ashlynn Shade, right, celebrate in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Notre Dame, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in Storrs, Conn. (AP Photo\/Jessica Hill)<\/p>\n

The Huskies had about as strong a defensive start as they could have hoped for, holding Notre Dame without a made field goal for the first six minutes of the game. They limited the Irish to just 3-for-14 from the field, and Hidalgo started 0-for-4 with two of her team\u2019s three turnovers in the opening quarter.<\/p>\n

But while UConn locked down the Irish, they also struggled to get their own offense flowing. The team began the first quarter on a spectacular 8-0 run, hitting their first four field goal attempts and grabbing four straight defensive rebounds off Notre Dame misses, but the Huskies shot just 3-for-12 after after that hot start.<\/p>\n

UConn found some momentum early in the second quarter after Strong sank the team\u2019s first 3-pointer of the game to cross the 1,000-point threshold and end an 0-for-5 start. But the Huskies couldn\u2019t string together possessions, and Hidalgo began to solve for their defensive pressure.<\/p>\n

The Notre Dame star sank her first shot early in the quarter and entered halftime with 10 points shooting 50% from the field. UConn\u2019s rotations went through several disjointed minutes, allowing Hidalgo a clean look from the perimeter that resulted in Notre Dame\u2019s first made 3-pointer, and she had a wide-open opportunity seconds later that just glanced off the rim.<\/p>\n

The Huskies ended the half on a scoring drought that lasted more than three minutes with three turnovers after the media timeout. Though they maintained a nine-point lead, Notre Dame kept second-quarter score even at 16-16.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second quarter, I thought we let up a little bit defensively, and they did a good job of getting to their spots and getting the shots they wanted,\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cI thought the first two quarters we spent a lot of time \u2014 too much time \u2014 trying to get the perfect shot, trying to get everything exactly right, and that\u2019s not who we are. We weren\u2019t as aggressive as we can be. We weren\u2019t in the attacking mode like we have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sluggish second quarter appeared to light a fire under UConn, who put the game away minutes after they emerged from the halftime locker room. Arnold nailed a 3-point clutch shot from the left wing that pushed the Huskies\u2019s lead back to double-digits, and Ashlynn Shade<\/a> added her second perimeter make a minute later off an Arnold steal. The Huskies forced three turnovers over a 90-second stretch and scored points off of two for an 8-0 run.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame took a timeout to attempt to recalibrate, but UConn\u2019s offense continued to bulldoze out of the break. The Huskies extended the run to 12-0 before the Irish put points on the board, and they added another 6-0 streak to force Notre Dame to burn another timeout. UConn went on to outscore the Irish 27-12 in the third, and it shot 3-for-7 from beyond the arc after going 2-for-13 before halftime. Hidalgo was once again held scoreless and took a single field goal attempt in the third.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told (KK) I thought this is the best game that she\u2019s played since she\u2019s been in Connecticut, because it\u2019s a mentality to play really well against a really good player,\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cIn a nutshell, the third quarter was KK, Ash and Azzi defensively just changing the game and getting us into some transition baskets. Every miss by them turned into a transition bucket by us, and then we started executing whatever we ran.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sophomore guard Kayleigh Heckel kept the Huskies\u2019 energy up through the fourth, hitting her second 3-pointer to launch a 17-2 UConn run. Auriemma began to empty the bench with nearly three minutes remaining in the game, using 10 of his 11 available players, and the Huskies finished the final frame outscoring the Irish by 14.<\/p>\n

As UConn celebrates 10 years since four-peat, can 2025-26 Huskies end back-to-back drought?<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STORRS \u2014 Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo\u2018s reign of terror against the UConn women\u2019s basketball team ended in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3723],"tags":[14628,6114,7,14251,217,2340,925,25028,6108,4116,2680,14625,14627,2679,68003,231,772,1544,33300,783,7391,6115,66,923,6107],"class_list":["post-548142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-ashlynn-shade","tag-azzi-fudd","tag-basketball","tag-blanca-quinonez","tag-college-basketball","tag-connecticut","tag-ct-news","tag-gampel-pavilion","tag-geno-auriemma","tag-hannah-hidalgo","tag-hartford-courant","tag-kayleigh-heckel","tag-kk-arnold","tag-local-news","tag-max-image-preview","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab","tag-niele-ivey","tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish","tag-notre-dame-womens-basketball","tag-sarah-strong","tag-sports","tag-uconn-huskies","tag-uconn-womens-basketball"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115925448969993426","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}