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UConn Women's Basketball: Five Takeaways From Opening Night Win
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- UConn Women's Basketball: Five Takeaways From Opening Night Win
(David Butler II-Imagn Images)
The UConn Huskies women's basketball team started off its 2026-27 season with a 100-35 drubbing of the Cornell Big Red on Monday night at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford.
After a 38-1 season that ended in the Final Four a year ago, the Huskies started their quest for national title No. 13 with a vengeance against the Ivy League visitors.
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Here's what you need to know from the opener. The takeaways are in no particular order.
Sarah Strong looked like the Player of the Year
Strong, the reigning National Player of the Year, tied for the team lead in scoring, pouring in 19 points in just 21 minutes. She was 8-of-14 from the floor and 2-of-4 from 3-point range.
More impressively, she had eight steals and five assists against no turnovers.
3-point questions answered?
I said most of the preseason that one of my biggest questions about this team was where it would find 3-point shooting in the wake of Azzi Fudd's graduation, and they found it in this game, going 11-of-20 (55 percent).
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The starters were 7-of-10 (70 percent), with Jovana Popovic hitting three of them.
How about the freshman?
Speaking of Popovic, she carried over her strong performance from the preseason into the opener. She tied for the team-lead in points with 19, and she did it on 8-of-12 shooting and 3-of-4 from 3-point range. She added three assists, four rebounds and no turnovers. She also had three steals.
And Marine Dursus of France, who missed the entire preseason with a foot injury, went 4-of-5 from the floor in just 16 minutes, scoring 11 points.
Blanca Quinonez returns!
Quinonez, who is on the watch list for the National Player of the Year, played 15 minutes in her return from injury, scoring four points and pulling down three rebounds. She needs to get her legs and rhythm about her, but seeing her back on the court after offseason shoulder surgery was important, especially with No. 5 Michigan on deck on Thursday.
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And how about the defense?
The Huskies forced 29 turnovers and had 25 steals. That will play. UConn did commit 15 turnovers, which it will want to clean up.
Up next
The No. 2 Huskies will travel to Michigan on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. ET. The game will air on FS1. These two teams met a year ago, with UConn winning by single-digits. It was the only single-digit win of the regular season for Geno Auriemma's team.
