Sarah Strong’s 39 Points Place Her in UConn’s Top Six for Scoring
The forward broke her own career high in a 91-79 victory over Iowa on Sunday.
By Julia Wang ·
Sarah Strong scored 39 points for the UConn Huskies on Sunday, a total that ties her for sixth place on the university's all-time single-game scoring list.
The performance marked a sharp rebound from Thursday's road loss to No. 5 Michigan, where Strong played a supporting role and scored 13 points while managing early foul trouble. Entering the game against No. 10 Iowa, she took a different approach, hitting six shots before the first media timeout to set the tone for the second half of the season.
Strong finished the contest 15-for-26 from the floor and added 10 rebounds. Her 39 points shattered her previous career high of 29. The 6-foot-3 forward dominated the second quarter, scoring 20 points in eight minutes of action. During that stretch, she made six of eight field goal attempts and converted all four three-pointers. The quarter ended with a highlight reel sequence where she forced a turnover and hit a transition three-point shot just before the buzzer.
The lead expanded to 23 points in the third quarter, where Strong added seven points. She contributed six more in the fourth quarter as the Huskies held off a late Iowa rally to secure the 91-79 win.
Strong is now tied with Svetlana Abrosimova, Kerry Bascom, and Napheesa Collier for the most points in a single game in school history. Only five players have scored more in a single game since the program began. Nykesha Sales holds the top mark with 46 points recorded against Stanford in December 1997. Sales joined the UConn staff as an assistant coach under head coach Geno Auriemma this past offseason and watched Strong's performance from the sideline on Sunday.
Other Huskies who have reached the 40-point threshold include Maya Moore, who recorded two such games in 2009 and 2010, as well as Paige Bueckers and Katie Lou Samuelson. Strong's new total places her ahead of those players in the historical rankings, though she remains six points shy of the program record.
