A school accustomed to extended home court winning streaks, UConn put an end to South Carolina’s 71-game home streak on Sunday, routing the Gamecocks 87-58 to earn NCAA.com team of the week honors.
South Carolina's home win streak, which dated back to 2020, was the fourth-longest home winning streak ever in Division I women’s basketball history. The only home winning streaks longer have been achieved by UConn, with the Huskies previously winning 99 straight (2007-2012) and 98 consecutive home games in a row (2013-2019), and Stanford, which won 82 straight home games from 2007 to 2012.
Graduate guard Azzi Fudd scored 28 points to lead the way for UConn against No. 4 South Carolina. Freshman forward Sarah Strong added 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Huskies (24-3), who had lost their past four games to the Gamecocks. Senior guard Paige Bueckers had 12 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds as UConn took control late in the opening quarter and was up by 22 points by halftime (45-23).
Defending champion South Carolina could not respond and lost for the first time at home since NC State beat the Gamecocks 54-46 on Dec. 3, 2020. The 29-point victory marked the largest road win for any Division I program over a top-five team since 2009, when the Huskies demolished then-No. 2 North Carolina.
UConn was scorching from beyond the 3-point line, shooting 46% (13-28) from long-range. Fudd led the barrage, going 6-of-10, while Ashlynn Shade shot 3-for-6 from deep.
UConn started the week on Feb. 12 with a 78-40 home win over St. John’s (New York) as Fudd connected on a personal-best eight three-pointers in route to a career-high 34 points. The Huskies improved to 14-0 in Big East Conference play with the victory.
Up to No. 5 in the latest Associated Press Top-25 Women’s College Basketball Poll, the Huskies will return to action on Wednesday at Seton Hall and then head to Indianapolis to play at Butler on Feb. 22.
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