Sarah Strong scores career-high 39 as UConn beats Iowa: where it ranks in UConn history
No. 2 UConn beat No. 10 Iowa 91-79 on Sunday in Storrs. Sarah Strong's 39 matches three games on the 2025-26 school list. Counting the 40 Paige Bueckers scored on March 29, 2025, which that list leaves off, the 39s tie for sixth.
UConn's 39-point club
Nine games are in this file. Strong's 39 is tied for sixth, seven points short of Nykesha Sales.
| Rank | Player | Pts | Date | Opponent | Result | FG | 3P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nykesha Sales | 46 | Dec. 21, 1997 | Stanford | W 94-78 | 18-27 | 6-7 |
| 2 |  Maya Moore | 41 | Dec. 21, 2010 | Florida State | W 93-62 | 15-24 | 1-5 |
| 3 | Maya Moore | 40 | Jan. 17, 2009 | Syracuse | W 107-53 | 14-23 | 10-14 |
| 3 |  Katie Lou Samuelson | 40 | March 6, 2017 | South Florida | W 100-44 | 12 made | 10-10 |
| 3 |  Paige Bueckers | 40 | March 29, 2025 | Oklahoma | W 82-59 | 16-27 | 6-8 |
| 6 | Kerry Bascom | 39 | March 16, 1991 | Toledo | |||
| 6 | Svetlana Abrosimova | 39 | Nov. 17, 1998 | UCLA | W 113-102 | 14-17 | 4 made |
| 6 |  Napheesa Collier | 39 | Feb. 27, 2017 | at South Florida | W 96-68 | 15-19 | 2-3 |
| 6 | Sarah Strong | 39 | Nov. 8, 2026 | Iowa, No. 10 | W 91-79 | 15-26 | 5-10 |
Source: the 2025-26 UConn women's media guide most-points list, the NCAA individual records in that guide, and the box scores named in the data dictionary. Data through Nov. 8, 2026. Methods: one row per 39-point game on that list, plus Bueckers' 40 on March 29, 2025 and Strong's 39 on Nov. 8, 2026, which the most-points list does not print. Rank is competition rank in this file. Ties share a number and the next number skips. The guide prints the 39s as No. 5 because it leaves Bueckers off. Iowa's No. 10 is the preseason AP poll in the Nov. 7 game notes, which the Nov. 8 recap also uses. A blank cell is a figure this page did not confirm. The bold row is Strong. Free to use and republish (CC0). Download CSV (CC0)
Two lines from the boxes
Sarah Strong
Junior forward
Career high. The Nov. 7 notes listed 29, twice, last vs. Ohio State on Nov. 16, 2025. She also had 4-for-5 at the line, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 0 steals, and 37:19.
Official final box, Nov. 8, 2026.
Nykesha Sales
Assistant coach, first season
The guide still prints this Dec. 21, 1997 game at Stanford as the record. UConn won 94-78 in Lakeland. The Nov. 7 notes list her as an assistant, an eight-time WNBA All-Star, and the program's steals record holder.
Points: 2025-26 media guide. Shooting: 1997-98 box PDF.
Tiles are the Nov. 8 official box for Strong and the 1997-98 archived box plus the 2025-26 media guide for Sales. Circle photos appear in the table only where Full Court Buckets already has a licensed portrait. Strong and Sales use initials. One note for this section.
Strong's three games this season
She scored 19, then 13, then 39. The 13 came in the road loss at Michigan on Thursday.
| Date | Opponent | Result | Minutes | FG | 3P | REB | AST | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 2 | Cornell | W 100-35 | 21:07 | 8-14 | 2-4 | 4 | 5 | 19 |
| Nov. 5 | at Michigan | L 66-77 | 27:15 | 5-11 | 2-6 | 8 | 2 | 13 |
| Nov. 8 | Iowa | W 91-79 | 37:19 | 15-26 | 5-10 | 10 | 3 | 39 |
Source: the official final box PDFs linked from the 2026-27 media center. Data through Nov. 8, 2026. Methods: one row per Strong game this season. Minutes are the box, not the rounded minute in the game notes. Michigan rebounds are 8. The Nov. 5 recap says nine. Free to use and republish (CC0). Download CSV (CC0)
Career seasons
The Nov. 7 notes carry 1,388 points in 80 games through Nov. 6. Add the 39 and the total is 1,427 in 81 games.
| Season | GP-GS | MPG | FG | 3P | FT | REB/G | AST | PTS | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 40-40 | 28.6 | 272-464 | 59-152 | 54-73 | 8.9 | 142 | 657 | 16.4 |
| 2025-26 | 38-37 | 27.4 | 279-479 | 61-151 | 80-96 | 7.7 | 146 | 699 | 18.4 |
| 2026-27 | 3-3 | 28.6 | 28-51 | 9-20 | 6-8 | 7.3 | 10 | 71 | 23.7 |
Source: 2024-25 and 2025-26 are the career block in the Nov. 7 game notes. 2026-27 is the combined statistics PDF as of Nov. 8, 2026. Data through Nov. 8, 2026. Methods: one row per season. Assists are season totals, not per game. 657 + 699 + 71 = 1,427. The notes say 31 career games of 20 or more points through Nov. 6. Iowa is a 32nd. Those notes do not list each 25-point game, so this page does not invent that list. Free to use and republish (CC0). Download CSV (CC0)
Sunday's game
The official box is the final at the M&T Bank Center at Gampel Pavilion. Tip was 2 p.m. Attendance was 10,244. Both teams moved to 2-1. UConn shot 34-for-62 (54.8 percent) and 11-for-21 from three (52.4 percent). The quarters were 20-14, 32-23, 20-14, 19-28. Halftime was 52-37. UConn's biggest lead was 27, at 4:47 of the third quarter. The officials were Maj Forsberg, Fatou Cissoko-Stephens, and Teresa Stuck.
Blanca Quiñonez scored 21 on 7-for-10, including 4-for-5 from three, with 5 steals. The UConn recap calls the 21 a match of her career high and the 5 steals a career high. KK Arnold scored 14. Jovana Popovic had 10 points and 6 assists. Olivia Vukosa had 10 rebounds. Iowa's Chazadi Wright scored 23. UConn won the rebounding 38-22.
The Nov. 7 notes call Strong the reigning national player of the year. UConn's April 2, 2026 release says she won the AP award for 2026, after the Naismith, Wade, and USBWA awards.
Thursday's loss was 77-66 at No. 5 Michigan, in the Nov. 5 recap. Strong's box line that night was 13 points and 8 rebounds in 27:15, with 5 fouls. The recap says nine rebounds. KK Arnold, asked on the quotes page about the 72 hours after Michigan, said the team had talked through the film and moved on.
Geno Auriemma, on that same quotes page, on how Strong bounced back: "I would say pretty good, right? I think she was really upset about what happened and how it happened and the way the whole thing evolved and she had a different look about her at practice and the way she was talking to the players and the example that she was setting as these couple of days went by and how aggressive she's capable of being. I think that was evident today."
Strong, on the same page: "I don't know, I just felt good. If my team is gonna give me the ball and I'm open, I'm gonna shoot it. That's what Coach has been harping off for the last two years I've been here."
On the Michigan game, Strong said: "I just think after the game, you just had to do a lot of self-reflecting. Personally, me, I just, I know I messed up in every aspect of the Michigan game. And Coach told me that and I just know how to be better for my team."
Iowa coach Jan Jensen, on the same page: "She's the most versatile big-guard, guard-big."
Before the game, UConn inducted Azzi Fudd into the Huskies of Honor. The Nov. 7 notes say that honor is for a first-team All-American. The recap says Gabby Williams and Tiffany Hayes, the 2026 WNBA champions, were back, and that national champions Tina Charles and Kalana Greene were in the building. Williams and Hayes are on the Golden State Valkyries pages. The series that ended with the title is the Game 7 recap.
The Nov. 7 notes list Sunday's Iowa game as TV: FS1, with radio on the UConn Sports Network. They do not name a streaming service. The Nov. 8 recap lists the next two games as Thursday at No. 18 Ohio State, 6:30 p.m., on FS1, and Sunday at No. 7 Louisville, 5:30 p.m., on ESPN. That recap does not name a stream either. Those ranks are the same preseason AP poll.
USA Today's game story says Strong had three steals. The official box lists zero steals and three assists.
Paige Bueckers, Maya Moore, Napheesa Collier, and Katie Lou Samuelson are the other players in this file at 39 or more. Three days before this game, UConn announced Diana Taurasi for the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2027. FCB's college card pages are the player guide and the 2026 sales guide. The 2027 draft lottery odds are the team drawing, not a prospect board. Full Court Buckets does not have a Sarah Strong player page.
Left off this page
A first-half split of 26 points, and 20 of those in the second quarter, is in wire copy. The official box PDF does not split Strong's points by quarter, and this page did not get a play-by-play log, so those splits are not used.
The sentence "We have a lot of really good players. But we only have one Sarah Strong" is not on the Nov. 8 quotes page. It is not used.
An X post count for her name was not checked against a public count this page could link, so it is not used.
The guide dates an 18-field-goal game against Stanford to Dec. 12, 1997. The 46-point box is Dec. 21 and also shows 18 field goals. This file does not add a Dec. 12 game.
How the rows were counted
Nine club rows: seven from the guide's most-points list, then Bueckers, then Strong. Three season rows: the three official boxes. Three career rows: two from the Nov. 7 notes and one from the Nov. 8 statistics PDF. Column definitions are in the data dictionary. The files are free to use and republish (CC0).
How this story was made: Full Court Buckets articles are written by Ryan Moalemi, sometimes with AI assistance, and every stat is checked against official WNBA box scores and the sources cited in the story. How we make Full Court Buckets
Full Court Buckets · WNBA News. Analysis. Commentary.