UConn Women Dominate Seton Hall After Early Scare

Saturday afternoon at Walsh Gymnasium in South Orange, New Jersey, the No. 1 UConn Huskies continued their dominant run through the women’s college basketball season, dispatching the Seton Hall Pirates with a resounding 92-52 victory. The win, broadcast live on Peacock, pushed UConn to a flawless 21-0 overall record and 11-0 in Big East play, while Seton Hall dropped to 14-6 and 8-3 in the conference. But if you only checked the final score, you’d miss the early drama—and the flashes of grit from the home team that had the nation’s top squad on its heels, if only for a moment.

Seton Hall, coming off a four-game win streak and a recent 73-57 triumph over Providence, came out swinging. The Pirates scored the game’s first six points, marking the largest deficit UConn has faced in any game this season. Mariana Valenzuela was the driving force in those opening minutes, notching all six points and setting an early tone that forced the Huskies to regroup. As the Pirates’ bench erupted and the home crowd roared, UConn found itself trailing for more than four minutes—a rarity for a team that had barely played from behind all year. "I thought Seton Hall came out really, really aggressively, and I think we got caught in a couple situations where, for the first time in maybe four or five games, our sequencing and our communication on the defensive end wasn’t 100%," UConn head coach Geno Auriemma admitted postgame.

Azzi Fudd, the Huskies’ redshirt senior guard, wasted no time in answering the challenge. Fudd single-handedly scored UConn’s first nine points, including a quick 6-0 run to even the score. Her sharp shooting helped the Huskies weather the early storm, and by the end of the first quarter, UConn had found its rhythm. Freshman forward Blanca Quinonez also made a major impact off the bench, entering just over three minutes into the game and starting a perfect 6-for-6 from the field. The momentum swung as UConn closed the opening quarter on a 9-0 run, taking a 25-17 lead. Fudd and Quinonez combined for 18 of UConn’s first-quarter points, shooting a blistering 100% from the floor in that span.

Seton Hall, for their part, shot 40.7% from the field in the first half and matched UConn on the boards, but the Huskies’ full-court press and relentless defense began to wear them down. UConn forced an eye-popping 27 turnovers in the game, converting those into 37 points—an area where the Huskies have excelled all season. "That’s a big part of what we’ve been able to do this year is put pressure on the other team, force them to play a little bit quicker than they want to play," said Auriemma. "When you can get in those situations where they’re running back on defense and trying to figure out where’s everybody going, you need those buckets. To me, that’s the differentiator."

By halftime, UConn had built a commanding 50-28 lead, thanks in large part to Sarah Strong’s 10-point second quarter. Strong, who finished with a team-high 17 points, six rebounds, five assists, and three steals, was everywhere on both ends of the court. Quinonez, too, filled the stat sheet, ending her day with 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting, five rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block in a season-high 28 minutes. Allie Ziebell and Ashlynn Shade also contributed off the bench, with Ziebell tallying 11 points and Shade connecting three times from beyond the arc.

Seton Hall’s Savannah Catalon had a notable outing, scoring 13 points on 2-for-4 shooting from three-point range, pulling down four rebounds, and drawing a game-high nine fouls. Valenzuela, meanwhile, celebrated her 100th career game in style, finishing with 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting, eight rebounds, and two steals. The Pirates actually led UConn for 4 minutes and 13 seconds—the longest the Huskies have trailed in any contest this season. But after a hot start, Seton Hall’s offense cooled dramatically. The Pirates made just one of their next ten shots after the initial burst and went 3-for-22 for the remainder of the game after halftime.

UConn’s defense, especially in the second half, was suffocating. The Huskies locked down the Pirates, holding them to just 30.9% shooting from the floor and 20% from three-point range. Seton Hall did manage to out-rebound UConn on the offensive glass 12-6, but the Huskies’ efficiency on offense—shooting 58.3% from the field and 37.9% from deep—proved overwhelming. The Huskies’ bench was equally impressive, accounting for 45 of the team’s 92 points, nearly matching the starters’ 47. Nine different UConn players scored at least four points, a testament to the squad’s depth and balance.

There was a moment of concern for UConn in the third quarter when senior center Serah Williams exited with an apparent right leg injury and did not return. Auriemma later explained, “She caught a knee to the calf,” downplaying any long-term worries. Williams finished with a single rebound in eight minutes of play, but her absence didn’t slow the Huskies’ momentum.

For Seton Hall, the loss was a tough pill, extending their losing streak against UConn to 43 games and dropping their all-time record against the Huskies to 10-63. Still, the Pirates have won seven of their last nine, with both losses coming at the hands of the nation’s top team. Junior Savannah Catalon’s two made three-pointers moved her past Veronica Sims into 16th place on Seton Hall’s career list, now sitting at 95. The Pirates will look to regroup as they travel to Georgetown for their next Big East matchup on January 29, with tip-off set for 11:00 a.m.

UConn, meanwhile, remains the team to beat. The Huskies will return home to Gampel Pavilion for a showdown with Xavier on January 29, a game that will also see Aaliyah Edwards inducted into the Huskies of Honor. With their depth, defensive pressure, and star power firing on all cylinders, the Huskies’ perfect season rolls on—though Saturday’s early scare in South Orange was a timely reminder that even the best can be tested.