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SPOKANE, Wash. — Sarah Strong went right and then left, trying to shake off USC defender Kiki Iriafen.
Iriafen wasn’t fazed – at first.
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The UConn women’s basketball freshman planted her right foot, just barely leaned into Iriafen and then spun all the way around to get on the other side of Iriafen. Strong reached up as she flew into the air and got off a clean shot. Iriafen was just a second too slow to block the ball.
The spin move so smooth, so clean, Strong didn’t look like your typical freshman playing in her first NCAA Tournament. And that’s because she’s not your typical freshman.
Strong had her best postseason performance yet as she paced No. 2 seed UConn through its Monday night 78-64 Elite Eight victory over No. 1 USC in Spokane. The victory marked the second-straight year UConn has knocked out USC in the regional final of the NCAA Tournament.
The Huskies advance to their second-straight and 24th total Final Four. UConn has reached the national semifinals in 16 of the last 17 NCAA Tournaments.
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The team is expected to fly out of Spokane Tuesday and travel across the country to Tampa, Florida where it will face No. 1 overall seed UCLA in Friday’s national semifinals. The other Final Four matchup is between No. 1 South Carolina and No. 1 Texas. The two Final Four winners will play in Sunday’s national championship game.
Strong got things going for UConn with a corner 3-pointer about a minute into the game. She drilled in another triple about five minutes later to break a four-minute scoring drought for the Huskies and snap a 10-0 USC run.
The freshman kept going and strung together a personal 7-0 run to get UConn on top with about two minutes remaining in the opening frame – a lead which the Huskies would keep for the rest of the game.
Strong finished Monday with her second-straight double with 22 points, a career-high 17 rebounds and four assists in her first-ever full 40-minute game. Paige Bueckers fed off Strong’s hot start and added a game-high 31 points, six assists, four steals, three rebounds and two blocks. Kaitlyn Chen followed with 15 points.
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Strong scored 10 points in 10 minutes and had 12 of UConn’s first 16 points. She reached 15 points off another 3-pointer at 7:37 in the second quarter – at that point individually outscoring the entire USC team 15-13.
The forward finished Monday’s first half 6-of-9 from the floor; a completely opposite performance after starting Saturday’s Sweet 16 just 1-of-7.
Strong only needed the first one minute and nine seconds of the third quarter to record her 12th double-double of the season and her third of her first four career NCAA Tournament games.
While Strong led UConn’s offense, the Huskies’ defense prevented the Trojans from responding.
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UConn swarmed, double-teamed and pressured USC every chance it got. Ashlynn Shade and Azzi Fudd never once stood still, mirroring their assignments on point. Ice Brady played smart, reaching in and keeping up physicality without fouling.
At halftime, UConn had scored 12 points off USC’s 11 turnovers (eight of which came from UConn steals), outscoring the Trojans 12-3 on fast breaks. The Trojans went 0-of-5 from deep and failed to keep up. The Huskies nose-dived and jumped on every loose ball, not once taking a play off.
Even when the Trojans began pressing late in the third and cut UConn’s lead from 19 to five with an 11-0 run, the Huskies didn’t back down but instead turned to their most experienced player.
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Six-year veteran Aubrey Griffin, who hadn’t played since the second round over a week prior, checked in to start the final quarter and used her size to help screen on UConn’s first possession, creating a wall with Strong to block defenders and give Azzi Fudd an open 3 atop the key (her first bucket after starting 0-of-9 from the floor).
Griffin stole the ball of USC’s inbound moments later and passed it off to Strong who found Bueckers for another 3-pointer. Fudd followed that up with another triple to put UConn back up by double-figures, securing the Final Four ticket.
