FORT WORTH, Texas — Reigning national titleholder and top-ranked overall seed UConn, spearheaded by Sarah Strong’s 21 points and 10 rebounds, convincingly defeated North Carolina 63-42 on Friday, thereby propelling the Huskies into the Elite Eight of the NCAA women’s basketball championship for the 30th time.
A second-year forward, Strong hails from North Carolina and holds AP All-American honors in conjunction with fellow player Azzi Fudd. Strong converted four successive field goals within a two-minute interval immediately following Blanca Quiñonez’s layup early in the second quarter, which established UConn’s (37-0) enduring lead.
Quiñonez contributed 16 points and Fudd added 10 for the Huskies, a team currently pursuing its 13th national championship. The squad also prolonged its overall winning streak to 53 contests.
Indya Nivar amassed 20 points for seeded fourth North Carolina (28-8), a team that has not progressed beyond the Sweet 16 since 2014, a milestone occurring two decades after their sole national championship.
UConn is set to confront seeded sixth Notre Dame in the Fort Worth Region 1 championship game on Sunday, vying for the initial berth in the Final Four in Phoenix. This follows Hannah Hidalgo’s achievement of a 31-point triple-double during the Fighting Irish’s 67-64 victory against No. 2 seed Vanderbilt earlier on Friday.
This upcoming contest will mark the ninth occasion for the Huskies and Irish to face off in the NCAA tournament. Their initial eight tournament encounters, with the most recent occurring in 2019, were exclusively within the Final Four, encompassing successive national title contests in 2014 and 2015. UConn prevailed in both of those matchups during its remarkable stretch of four successive championships.
Strong, the Big East’s season’s top player, accumulated 11 points during the second quarter, a period when UConn surpassed the Tar Heels 17-8 to establish a 28-20 mid-game advantage. As the league’s premier defensive player, she concluded the game with two blocked shots and five steals.
UConn emerged from halftime with a 12-0 scoring streak, which featured a layup and a 3-pointer from Fudd, despite her being limited to two points on 1-of-7 shooting in the initial half.
The Tar Heels committed 24 turnovers and posted their lowest shooting percentage of the season at 28% (17-of-60) in yet another frustrating Sweet 16 contest. Their season concluded in the same round last year with a 47-38 defeat by Atlantic Coast Conference competitor Duke.