STORRS — UConn women’s basketball dominated Fort Hays State 89-49 in its exhibition game Sunday at Gampel Pavilion, anchored by 27 points from superstar Paige Bueckers.
Bueckers finished 12-for-14 from the field with nine rebounds, a block and a steal. She was dominant immediately, beginning the game 4-for-4 from the field for nine points in the first quarter. Freshman Sarah Strong also made an instant impact for the Huskies, leading the team in rebounds with five in her first 10 minutes on the court. Bueckers and Strong, both former No. 1 recruits, played the entire first quarter as Auriemma experimented with lineups around them.
Redshirt sophomore Ice Brady, sophomore Ashlynn Shade and graduate transfer Kaitlyn Chen started alongside Bueckers and Strong, and Chen’s presence was felt quickly on the offensive end. She started the scoring for the Huskies with a reverse shot in the paint, and she excelled getting downhill scoring her first four points on driving layups.
UConn’s shooters looked rusty in the first outside of Bueckers, starting 1-for-7 from 3-point range. But the Huskies quickly hit a stride in the second quarter with Bueckers and Shade hitting consecutive 3-pointers in the first four minutes after the break. Shade then scored five unanswered points on back-to-back fast break opportunities, extending an 8-0 run that gave UConn then its biggest lead of the game up 33-17.
Strong visibly got more comfortable as the game went on, adding to Shade’s run with a steal-and-score late in the second quarter, then hitting her first jumper on the next possession. The Huskies outscored Fort Hays State 27-6 in the second quarter, holding the Tigers scoreless for more than four minutes. Bueckers maintained her 100% shooting from the field into halftime scoring five straight points in the final minute of the quarter to end the first half with 19.
Bueckers missed her first shot of the game early in the third quarter, but Shade stepped up for a steal-and-score on the next possession. The sophomore guard was arguably the Huskies best defensive player against Fort Hays State, finishing with a team-high four steals and helping hold the Tigers to just 29% shooting from the field and 28% on 3-pointers. Shade was also UConn’s second-highest scorer with 15 points shooting 6-for-11 from the field, and she brought down three rebounds.
The play of the game came late in the third quarter with the starters on the floor: Bueckers flipped a no-look pass behind her back to Strong, setting off a passing sequence around the arc to Chen and then Shade in the corner. Shade pulled up and drained the 3-pointer, giving UConn a 33-point lead.
Coach Geno Auriemma took Bueckers off the floor for most of the fourth quarter, and though the team’s less-experienced lineups put together a solid showing, the Huskies were significantly less effective with their superstar on the sideline. Sophomore Qadence Samuels stepped up in the fourth scoring 10 of her 12 points, and she finished with five rebounds plus three assists without a single turnover. Redshirt freshman Jana El Alfy made her collegiate debut in the exhibition logging nine rebounds plus two points and a steal, but she also picked up four fouls before the end of the third quarter and gave up a pair of turnovers.
Behind Bueckers and Shade, Chen and Strong also scored in double digits from the starting lineup. Strong came just shy of a double-double in her first-ever college game logging 11 points and eight rebounds plus three assists, two steals and a block. Chen put up an efficient 14 points shooting 6-for-11 from the field, and she led the Huskies with five assists plus seven rebounds and two steals.
The biggest concern for UConn was a turnover-heavy start, giving up seven turnovers in the first half including four in the opening quarter. Fort Hays State finished with 15 points off of 17 total takeaways, though Huskies eventually outscored the Tigers in the category with 21 points on 17 forced turnovers. The team also grappled with foul trouble down the stretch, playing El Alfy, Chen and Brady all with four fouls in the final minutes.
