FORT WORTH, Texas — Top-seeded UConn is back in the Final Four, but it wasn’t the two All-Americans and Naismith finalists who carried the Huskies when things were shaky.
Freshman Blanca Quiñonez, who scored 20 points, was the difference-maker UConn’s 70-62 Elite Eight win over Notre Dame. The victory assured UConn its 25th Final Four trip in program history, including making 17 of the last 18.
Blanca scored 14 first-half points while Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong got off to another slow start, combining for a season-low 10 first-half points. Quiñonez’s hot shooting kept the Huskies in front of sixth-seeded Notre Dame, which was seeking its first Final Four trip since 2019.
For Quinonez, though, her big first quarter wasn’t a major deal.
“As always, I just try to bring something to the court, impact the game, as coach says,” Quiñonez said. “I just go there and just try to do the best for the team.”
Strong, who finished with a team-high 21 points, and Fudd, who added 13 points, struggled early because of Notre Dame’s defense and physicality. That was a focus for the Irish, who had lost 85-47 to the Huskies in February and recognized they’d need to be more physical this time around.
“I thought we were physical,” Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said. “I have always talked about us having toughness, and I feel like we were tough. We struggled to score, but I thought physically we matched them a lot better than we did the first time around.”
But the Fighting Irish couldn’t find enough offensive help for star guard Hannah Hidalgo. The junior guard led Notre Dame with 22 points and 11 rebounds, but no other Notre Dame player scored in double figures, while UConn’s depth shined throughout the game.
Quiñonez wasn’t the lone UConn bench player to step up in big moments. Kayleigh Heckel played a major role by giving point guard KK Arnold some rest and being a primary defender on Hidalgo, who did not score in the first quarter.
“Both of them had very difficult assignments trying to guard, I think, probably the best point guard in the country,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “I think she’s, as we’ve gone along in this tournament, become even more comfortable and more sure of herself.”
Still, keeping Hidalgo in check all game wasn’t going to be possible. She scored on an and-1 layup to cut UConn’s lead to seven points with 2:31 left in the third quarter, but Strong and Fudd took over from there.
Strong scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, and Fudd scored 7 points in the final frame to help seal another Final Four trip for the Huskies, who are aiming to repeat as national champions.
On one hand, it’s good for UConn to learn to battle when Strong and Fudd are off, but two slow starts in a row are concerning for an offense that has been scoring with ease this season, averaging 88 points per game. Strong and Fudd combined for just four points in the first-quarter of their Sweet 16 win against North Carolina.
The Huskies will play on Friday in Phoenix against Monday’s Elite Eight winner between top-seeded South Carolina and third-seeded TCU.
“This team no matter what I throw at them, they always just go, all right, we got this,” Auriemma said. “That’s why I’m happy for them, because they put up with a lot every day in practice, and it’s made them who they are right now. It might all fall apart next Friday night, who knows? So far so good.”
