By Hawk Fanatic

Connecticut forward Sarah Strong might have the most fitting last name in women’s college basketball as shown with her over-powering performance against the Iowa women’s basketball team on Sunday.

The 6-foot-2 Strong scored a career-high 39 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Huskies broke open a close game in the second quarter, but then had to withstood a late run by the Hawkeyes to prevail, 91-79, on their home court in Storrs, Connecticut.

Iowa outscored UConn 28-19 in the fourth quarter, but it was too little and too late with Iowa having having trailed by as many as 27 points in the second half.

Third-year point guard Chit-Chat Wright led Iowa with 23 points, and she made 5-of-8 shots from 3-point range.

All-Big Ten center Ava Heiden also scored in double figures for Iowa with 15 points despite being in foul trouble throughout the game while guard Dani Carnegie and small forward Amari Whiting finished with 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Hawkeyes.

“I think once we settled down and started playing our game, that’s when we were able to get good looks and great looks that we wanted to get,” Wright said on the Learfield post-game radio show. “I think in the beginning, the uncharacteristic turnovers that I had; so just once I got to the second half and was just able to settle down and talk to my teammates, I think that’s when we were doing our best.”

Wright was knocked to the floor on a hard screen with 2 minutes, 31 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and with Iowa trailing, 85-72. She was examined by Iowa’s medical crew near the baseline before getting up and walking to the bench.

The good news is that Wright returned to the game just seconds later.

Heiden also had to leave the game briefly in the fourth quarter with blood dripping down her face after she had collided with a UConn player. But she also returned to the game wearing a different jersey.

Until Iowa made its late run; Sunday’s game was similar to last season when UConn crushed the Hawkeyes 90-64 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Iowa also suffered two lopsided losses to eventual national champion UCLA last season, so there definitely was a goal heading into Sunday’s game to at least be competitive.

It could be argued that Iowa met that goal with its scoring run in the fourth quarter, but the final deficit still was 12 points.

UConn was coming off a 77-66 loss at No. 5 Michigan this past Thursday, making it easy to assume that legendary head coach Geno Auriemma would have his players locked in and ready to go on Sunday.

But it was Iowa that actually started fast; building early leads of 8-3 and 12-7 in the first quarter. But the Huskies closed the quarter on a 13-2 scoring run, building a 20-14 lead heading to the second quarter.

Iowa had kept the score close, and even led for over half of the first quarter, but UConn clearly had the momentum after one quarter.

Iowa missed all five of its shots from 3-point range in the first quarter and had four turnovers.

Heiden also picked up two fouls in the first quarter, so there was plenty for Iowa head coach Jan Jensen to be concerned about heading to the second quarter with her All-Big Ten center on the bench.

UConn then made back-to-back threes to begin the second quarter, the second expanding the lead to 26-14 with 8:35 left in the quarter, and also causing Jensen to call a timeout.

Iowa hung around in the second quarter without Heiden, thanks mostly to making five 3-point baskets.

The Hawkeyes had a chance to cut the deficit to single digits in the closing seconds, but then turned the ball over and that led to Sarah Strong’s fourth 3-point basket of the half right before the halftime buzzer, making Iowa’s deficit to 52-37 at the break.

Strong scored 26 points in the first half and had six rebounds.

Iowa shot a respectable 48.9 percent in the first half, making 14-of-29 attempts, but UConn was even better, shooting 54.5 percent (18-of-33) from the field in the half.

The Huskies also had a 20-11 rebounding advantage in the first half as Jensen used mostly a smaller lineup with Heiden on the bench.

Heiden only played eight minutes in the first half and scored five early points.

“Unfortunately, we get behind the eight ball when Ava has those fouls,” Jensen said on the Learfield post-game interview. “And that’s one thing we’ve really been working on that plagued us last year at a couple key times.”

The game was in danger of slipping away from Iowa heading to the second half, but Heiden had three fouls to give in the second half, and Iowa also had shot well from three in the second quarter.

So there still was a chance, but Iowa would have to mount its comeback right away.

But then Heiden picked up her third foul with 8:31 left in the third quarter, and would go back to the bench.

UConn then expanded its lead to 57-39 on Strong’s fifth three of the game, and Jensen responded by putting Heiden back in the game barely one minute later.

The deficit would continue to grow, even with Heiden on the court, but then Heiden picked up her fourth foul late in the third quarter, and with Iowa trailing 70-43 at the time.

UConn made a basket right before the buzzer to end the third quarter, building its lead to 72-51 with 10 minutes left play.

The odds of Iowa mounting one of the greatest comebacks in program history in the fourth quarter were slim to none. But there still was enough time for Iowa to finish the game in a positive way by making as run as it did by cutting the deficit to 10 points.

Iowa also won the second half, 42-39, making what could’ve been yet another rout at least something to build on.

“I just thought our fight was good,” Jensen said. “It gives us a lot to build on; a lot more things that are promising than are negative because they can control reaching, and I thought both of Ava’s fouls were controllable.”

UConn improved to 85-3 on its home court since the start of the 2020-21 season.

“We want to play the best teams, and UConn is a good team and I think it just gives us things to on and see what we can improve on, and seeing the areas of growth that we can improve on” Wright said. “It kind of made us better today.”