UConn women’s basketball routs Georgetown, 84-39, in Big East Tournament opener
UNCASVILLE — The UConn women’s basketball team rang in the 2026 postseason on Saturday afternoon with a time-honored program tradition: A blowout victory in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals.
The No. 1 Huskies dismantled 8-seed Georgetown 84-39 at Mohegan Sun Arena, advancing to the semifinals of a conference tournament for the 38th consecutive season. UConn will face the winner of the quarterfinal between 4-seed Marquette and 5-seed Creighton in the next round Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
After senior center Serah Williams ended the regular season on a breakthrough performance against St. John’s, the Wisconsin transfer kept her momentum rolling into the first game of the tournament. Williams had her highest-scoring performance in a UConn jersey, leading the team with 14 points.
All three of UConn’s All-Big East first-team selections joined Williams in double digits. All-American sophomore Sarah Strong had 11 points, while star guard Azzi Fudd and junior point guard KK Arnold added 10 apiece.
Williams came out playing with more aggression than she’s shown all season, and she put up eight of the Huskies’ first 10 points to open the game. The senior center also brought down a pair of offensive rebounds, setting the tone for the rest of the team. After missing a layup on the first shot of the game, Williams hit six consecutive field goal attempts to tie her season-high 12 points before halftime.
Georgetown began the game on four unanswered points, but UConn’s defensive effort quickly stifled any chance the Hoyas had to find a rhythm. The Huskies forced turnovers on four consecutive possessions to kick off a 10-0 run, and they extended it to a 22-1 deficit before the Hoyas put in a second field goal more than six minutes after their first.
At the end of the first half, UConn had 32 of its 47 points off of 17 Georgetown turnovers, and though it ended the second quarter on a three-minute scoring drought, it outscored the Hoyas 13-3 with six forced turnovers through the last seven minutes of the half.
The offensive slump continued into the start of the third quarter with both teams failing to hit a field goal for several minutes out of halftime. Williams ended the drought with a layup off a dime from Arnold, and Strong began to heat up with six of her points coming in the third quarter alone. UConn outscored the Hoyas 22-4 in the third, holding Georgetown to a single made field goal.
The Huskies kept the energy high with their starters sitting in the final quarter, drawing louder and louder cheers from the heavily pro-UConn crowd each time a bench player scored. The bench was on its feet mimicking fish gills after freshman guard Kelis Fisher, nicknamed “Big Fish,” hit the first postseason bucket of her career. The fans then exploded when redshirt senior Caroline Ducharme connected on her first 3-pointer since the Huskies’ Nov. 12 win over Loyola Chicago.
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