No. 1 UConn survived one of its few real tests of the season, defeating No. 11 Iowa 90-64 on Saturday at the Women’s Champions Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Iowa was solid, shooting 49 percent from the field and 47.1% from long distance – a favorable comparison with UConn (52.2% and 44.8%, respectively). And the Hawkeyes outrebounded the Huskies big – 34 to 25.

How is it, then, that UConn (12-0) pulled off yet another comfortable wire-to-wire win? Credit the relentless defense that pestered Iowa (10-2).

Head coach Geno Auriemma’s crew stole the ball 17 times, blocked five shots and created 26 total turnovers. And the Huskies never fail to take advantage of a gift, scoring 41 points off of the Hawkeyes’ giveaways.

Sarah Strong was the driver for UConn in the first half, scoring 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting as the Huskies led 42-31 at the half.

“The first half, it was a struggle to get going and Sarah kind of just did her thing,” Auriemma told NBC Sports after the game.

“I was really happy that in the second half we got contributions from a lot of people. Azzi (Fudd) came alive like we knew she would, but I thought our defense was really good. They're a really hard team to play against and they spread you out. They've got a lot of good shooters, and the big kids are good inside so I was really impressed with our defense most of all.”

In the first half of the third quarter, UConn grew that 11-point halftime lead to 21, fueled by a 14-4 run that included four 3-pointers to make the score 56-35.

More UConn stories

UConn football schedule for 2026 has already changed as result of ACC policy

A top recruit could be on verge of choosing UConn WBB

Geno Auriemma makes major declaration at Sue Bird number retirement ceremony

Iowa wasn’t able to shave anything off the UConn lead, and the Huskies outscored the Hawkeyes by five in the final quarter. Fudd put up 13 points in the fourth to seal the win.

Fudd led the Huskies with 27 points and added four steals. Strong scored 23 and contributed seven rebounds and six steals. Freshman Blanca Quinonez put in 10 points to go with four rebounds, five assists and four steals.

For Iowa, Hannah Stuelke tallied a team-high 17 points and five rebounds. Chazadi Wright had 16 points and Taylor Stremlow had 11 points.

Ava Heiden, who leads the Hawkeyes in scoring with an average of 15.2 points per game, was held to eight points on 4-of-11 shooting.

Auriemma said his players all know their roles and how to help the team.

“They want to work hard; they want to be a good defensive team. They take great pride in trying to limit what the other team can do,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of kids that understand, ‘OK, well, I’m not going to lead the team in scoring maybe, but there’s a lot of things I can do to help our team win.' We’ve got a really good group, and I’m happy that they can go home for Christmas with this."

Remember to join our UCONN on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Huskies fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that's free too!