STORRS — If the UConn women’s basketball team played every game against Xavier, Allie Ziebell would be a first-team All-American.

The sophomore guard knocked down a career-high five 3-pointers when the Huskies routed the Musketeers by 65 points back in November, but she ascended to a new level of dominance in the rematch Wednesday night, leading the team to a 97-39 win at Gampel Pavilion with 10 makes from beyond the arc.

UConn was down six players against Xavier with starting center Serah Williams (ankle) and third-leading scorer Blanca Quinonez (shoulder) plus reserves Caroline Ducharme (migraine) and Gandy Malou-Mamel (illness) all ruled out in addition to Morgan Cheli and Ice Brady with long-term injuries.

The shortened roster meant the Huskies badly needed a big performance from Ziebell off the bench, and she delivered beyond all expectation. She tied the program record for single-game 3-pointers hitting 10-for-14 from the perimeter to finish with 34 points, doubling her previous career high of 17. She also added three assists and two steals.

Ziebell joins an elite group in tying the record, most recently matched by Katie Lou Samuelson in 2017. Hall of Famer Maya Moore set the record originally in 2009, and  Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis also hit 10 in 2014. Ziebell’s 34 points are also the most ever scored by a UConn player off the bench.

“I was here for all of them, and while they’re happening you don’t really (realize). You’re not counting, that’s five, that’s six,” coach Geno Auriemma said. “But the number isn’t as impressive to me as watching her just play with so much confidence and shoot the ball. That’s the Allie that I saw in high school. That’s the Allie that I saw every summer. That’s the kid who we recruited, and why we recruited her.”

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The Huskies’ sophomore class propelled the 58-point victory with All-American forward Sarah Strong adding 25 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Sophomore guard Kayleigh Heckel led the team with a career-best eight rebounds plus eight assists, and junior guard Ashlynn Shade set career highs of her own with nine steals and six assists on top of 12 points and six rebounds.

Almost nothing went right for the Huskies in the first quarter as they adjusted to a new rotation with Williams and Quinonez both sidelined. UConn gave up 17 points in the first quarter and trailed for more than two minutes while it struggled to get its offense going.

Strong carried the early effort with 12 points shooting 5-for-6 in the opening quarter, but the rest of the team was a combined 4-for-15 from the field, and the Huskies also went 1-for-13 from 3-point range. The only player to hit a shot from deep in the first was Ziebell, but once the sophomore guard saw one fall, she caught fire.

“I see it every day in practice,” Auriemma said. “We do these shooting drills, and it’s the same in practice with her: When they start going in, they all go in … And I thought Sarah’s first quarter, it’s just so easy right? It looks so effortless that we’re not even talking about it.”

Strong logged a steal and scored the first four points of the second quarter for UConn, but the Huskies really began to roll once Ziebell knocked down her second 3-pointer to start them on a 7-0 run. She then cashed two more on back-to-back possessions, and Strong added a make of her own from the perimeter to make it 16 unanswered points for UConn.

Ziebell sank another 3-pointer late in the quarter to tie her previous career high, entering halftime with 15 points all coming from beyond the arc. The team improved to 71.4% on 3-pointers in the second quarter after hitting 7.7% in the first.

Star guard Azzi Fudd, usually the Huskies second-leading scorer, had one of her worst offensive starts of the season hitting just 1-for-9 from the field in the first half. She missed a free throw for the first time since the team’s 2025 Sweet 16 win over Oklahoma, ending a streak of 40 consecutive makes from the line.

“That was a really, really difficult night for Azzi,” Auriemma said. “I don’t know that she’s 100% all there right now. Stuff runs through your team throughout the season, so she didn’t look like she was all there, but her presence on the floor is worth a lot, because the other team doesn’t know she’s going to miss the next seven. They just think, we have to guard her.”

The redshirt senior finally got a shot to fall after halftime, draining her lone 3-pointer to set the Huskies on another massive run. The team put up 15 unanswered points while holding Xavier scoreless for almost five minutes, and it forced more turnovers than it allowed points in the third quarter. Ziebell connected for her sixth 3-pointer with three minutes left in the quarter to break her personal record, and Shade also got into a rhythm with 10 points in the third alone. Across the second and third quarters, UConn outscored Xavier 52-14.

The Huskies kept feeding Ziebell in the fourth, and the sophomore’s hot hand never stopped burning. She sank four 3-pointers in a row over less than two minutes to push UConn’s lead past 50 points, and the crowd at Gampel Pavilion reached a new decibel each time another shot dropped. Behind Ziebell, the rest of the team hit a combined 5-for-20 beyond the arc.

“I had absolutely no idea (about the record),” Ziebell said. “I didn’t really know until Coach said it after the game. But honestly when you’re shooting and they’re going in, you just know you’re in that rhythm. My teammates did such a good job of finding me, and you could tell how happy they were.”