North Carolina native Sarah Strong revealed her finalists—UConn, North Carolina and Duke—three days before Selection Sunday. Four weeks later, during Final Four weekend, Strong committed to the No. 2 UConn women’s basketball team.
Back in her home state and facing one of her three finalists, the No. 1 recruit went to work. Even though she shot 7-19 from the floor, Strong struck from both sides of the ball with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
Her second double-double in three career games propelled the Huskies past the No. 14 North Carolina Tar Heels 69-58 Friday night.
UCONN BASKETBALL MESSAGE BOARD | THE HUSKY HOUSE FORUM | UCONN BASKETBALL 2025 RECRUITING CLASS | UCONN FOOTBALL RECRUITING
With six assists to boot, the McDonald’s All-American Game co-MVP became the first freshman since Maya Moore with a 10-10-5 line. Although it involved holding off a late North Carolina comeback, Strong was not the only player to join an elite company at First Horizon Coliseum.
Geno Auriemma secured his 1,216th victory as a head coach, tying Hall of Famer Tara VanDerveer for the most wins in college basketball history.
“We are fortunate to have so many great players to make this possible, so many great people on my staff over the years. It is hard to comprehend it,” Auriemma said on ESPN after the final buzzer. “40 years ago, UConn took a chance on me; those players early on took a chance on us—me and [Chris Dailey]. … Anytime you create something, you are going to remember it for the rest of your life.”
Redshirt senior Paige Bueckers tied Maya Moore’s program mark for fewest games to 1,000 career points when she last took on the Tar Heels. Bueckers scored 26 last season at Mohegan Sun Arena, and she exceeded that total on Friday with 29 points at a 12-21 clip.
“We have got an opportunity to watch a generational player for a couple more games before she goes to the pros,” UNC head coach Courtney Banghart commented about the three-time Preseason Big East Player of the Year, who also had three boards and three assists, postgame. “She is an exceptional player.”
The six-time National Coach of the Year shared a similar opinion.
“Unless you foul her every single time, that is the only way you are going to stop her,” Auriemma noted. “I think she is the most difficult player to guard in America.”
Even though Connecticut got only five points from their bench, Ice Brady and Kaitlyn Chen provided much-needed support. Both California natives scored nine points, shot 1-2 from downtown, made three field goals and collected three assists. While Chen recorded a steal, Brady backed up her performance with nine rebounds and two blocks.
Despite their late rally and 24 points from their bench, the Tar Heels fell short in the Gate City because of their early offensive struggles. North Carolina turned the ball over 15 times. The Huskies turned those giveaways into 13 points while outscoring them in the paint 26-16.
UConn’s defense, collectively, held the Tar Heels’ dynamic scorers—Lexi Donarski and Alyssa Ustby—to just eight combined points and two made field goals. Rather than those two graduate students, Indiya Nivar and Ciera Toomey helped Carolina stay close with the Huskies.
Toomy, a redshirt freshman, crossed double figures for the first time in her career with 10 points at a 4-11 clip. Making her season debut, Nivar nearly collected a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds. On defense, the former Stanford Cardinal swatted two shots and recorded two steals.
Despite scoring seven straight points for the Tar Heels, Nivar herself could not stop Bueckers’ offensive onslaught in the opening period. The two-time WBCA All-American scored 16 points at a 6-9 clip and capped off the first quarter the only way she knew how.
Jana El Alfy fed Bueckers the ball on the inbounds pass following Nivar’s fourth bucket of the night. Even with a defender guarding her, the Minnesota native threw up a heave from the front of UNC’s bench that hit nothing but the net.
Bueckers’ buzzer-beating triple gave Connecticut a 25-14 lead. The Huskies stretched the advantage to as much as 20 throughout the second quarter with their post play before the media timeout.
Once that break ended, however, the Tar Heels' offense utilized the energy from their fans. North Carolina ended the first half on an 8-0 run and trimmed the deficit to 12 going into halftime. The 2021 Nancy Lieberman Award winner in Bueckers ended the Tar Heels’ stretch just 14 seconds into the second half.
It was the first of eight field goals that UConn made throughout their 20-point third quarter. Three other Huskies joined Bueckers with a triple, and Strong contributed on the glass with five boards. Even then, Connecticut’s 21-point advantage did not necessarily feel safe.
The Huskies ran a four-guard lineup after El Alfy’s third foul. Despite UConn shrugging off some lineup-related struggles with back-to-back triples, Carolina started gaining momentum.
The Tar Heels scored the last five points of the third quarter, then scored five more to begin the fourth and pull within 11. Less than two minutes later, Nivar went end-to-end and trimmed UNC’s deficit to single digits.
Even with the Tar Heels’ second-half surge, the Huskies’ defense prevented their lead from shrinking any further than nine. Simultaneously, however, Connecticut could not capitalize on their defensive stands and regain a double-digit edge.
That all changed for the Huskies when El Alfy and Bueckers buried layups on consecutive possessions following the final media timeout. Despite a late three from Lanie Grant, Connecticut won their seventh-straight game against North Carolina dating back to 2008, Moore’s freshman season.
The Huskies head home to Storrs to celebrate Auriemma and Chris Dailey’s 40th anniversary coaching the program. A win against the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights on Wednesday night would give the tandem their 1,217th career victory.
The reigning Big East Coach of the Year would also stand alone as the winningest coach in Division I college basketball history. Tip-off from the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion is at 7 p.m. EST on SNY.
--------------------------------------------------------------
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
