Sarah Strong scored 25 points on Thursday to power the No. 4 UConn women’s basketball team past No. 17 Ohio State 87-55 on the road.
Strong spent the final 12:02 of the first half on the bench after picking up two fouls, allowing the Buckeyes to pull within three points at halftime, according to The UConn Blog. The junior exploded for 20 points in the second half—matching Ohio State’s total team output after the break—while the Huskies outscored the hosts 49-20 over the final 20 quarters.
The Huskies never trailed in the contest and improved to 3-1 on the season. Strong set a career-high with seven made 3-pointers on just eight attempts, adding nine rebounds, five assists, and three steals.
Olivia Vukosa posted the best game of her young career to keep UConn afloat while Strong sat in the first half.
Ashlynn Shade contributed 15 points for the Huskies, while KK Arnold added 10 points, five assists, and five steals despite also dealing with foul trouble in the first half. Jovana Popovic chipped in two points, and Blanca Quiñonez went scoreless.
UConn committed 13 turnovers in the first half but cleaned up the ball with only three giveaways over the final two quarters. The team assisted on 24 of 32 field goals, received 31 points from its bench, and shot 14 for 27 from beyond the arc.
The Huskies opened the game on a 12-2 run and stretched their lead to 13 points before Strong picked up two fouls in 14 seconds, forcing her to the bench with 2:02 left in the first quarter. Ohio State closed the period on a 12-4 run to cut the deficit to five.
With Strong, Quiñonez, and Arnold all sidelined by foul trouble, the second quarter transformed into a defensive slugfest yielding just 24 combined points. UConn held the Buckeyes without a basket for the first 4:54 of the period while managing only four points of its own, but carried a 38-35 lead into the locker room.
Strong seized control immediately after halftime, drilling a 3-pointer on the team’s first possession and following with another a minute later. She scored UConn’s first five baskets and tallied 17 points in the third quarter alone, during which Ohio State managed just 11 points.
The Huskies pushed their lead past 20 points early in the fourth quarter and maintained the pressure to secure the 32-point victory. Next, UConn travels to face No. 7 Louisville on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
