Former Grace Christian High School star Sarah Strong set an NCAA record for most points in a tournament (114) by a freshman and led all players (on both teams) in points, rebounds, assists and blocks in UConn’s championship game rout of South Carolina, 82-59, on Sunday.
Strong scored 24 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and had 5 assists and 3 blocks as UConn earned its 12th national title in school history and first since 2016. For Strong, that’s four consecutive championships, as she ended her high school career in Sanford with three straight NCISAA titles with Grace Christian.
Strong’s record 114 tournament points over six games passed Tennessee’s Tamika Catchings, who scored 111 points in 1998. According to ESPN, that same year Strong’s mother, Allison Feaster, led Harvard as a No. 16 seed past No. 1 Stanford in the first round. Feaster went on to a 10-year WNBA career.
Strong is also the first NCAA women’s player (regardless of class) to have at least 100 points, 25 assists and 10 blocks in single tournament (she had 114, 26 and 12).
Strong, potential WNBA first-round pick Paige Bueckers and senior Azzi Fudd have been considered the “Big 3” for UConn throughout the entire tournament. Fudd also had 24 points, and Bueckers dropped 17 in her final game with the Huskies.
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said of the group following the game: “Well, it’s amazing to have three players, three people like that on the same team. And Sarah, you would think Sarah was graduating the way she plays, right? All three of them complement each other so well. They all have such unique skill sets.”
Read more: UConn championship page
Revisit The Rant’s 2024 story on Sarah Strong
Sarah is going to add to the rapidly growing attention that women’s college basketball is getting. If an exhibition game were to be scheduled at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh with whatever WNBA team she eventually signs with against Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever, that place would be packed out. It’s a few years before Sarah goes pro, but somebody get on it!