UConn Women Begin Season Against Cornell
Coastal Connecticut prepares to face Big East rivals after a week of exhibition play.
By Layla Fontaine ·
The University of Connecticut women's basketball team opens its 2026-27 regular season on Monday night in Hartford.
The Huskies will host Cornell at 5 p.m. at PeoplesBank Arena. This contest serves as the first leg of a doubleheader, as the men's team plays Gardner-Webb later that evening at 9 p.m.
Head coach Geno Auriemma expects to field a nearly complete roster for the opener. Three players who missed the exhibition games due to injury will return. Blanca Quiñonez is cleared from shoulder surgery, while Marine Dursus and Morgan Cheli have recovered from foot issues.
Quiñonez, the Big East Freshman and Sixth Player of the Year last season, will make her debut. She finished the previous year as the team's third leading scorer. Coaches anticipate she will serve as the secondary option behind Sarah Strong. A minute restriction is likely for Quiñonez on Monday. This limited role allows her to regain rhythm before UConn faces No. 5 Michigan next Thursday and No. 10 Iowa next Sunday.
Dursus offers a new dimension to the perimeter game. The 21-year-old guard transferred to Storrs after playing professionally in France. In the La Boulangère Wonderligue League for Angers, she averaged 9.9 points per game. Her shooting efficiency was high, with a 52.9% field goal percentage and a 41.2% three-point percentage.
Auriemma identified defense as the primary concern for the regular season. The team held its three exhibition opponents to 61 points or fewer. The press defense led by KK Arnold, Sarah Strong, Jovana Popovic, and Ashlynn Shade was effective. However, consistency in transition remains a work in progress. Against Army, the Huskies trailed by eight points before outscoring the Black Knights 32-7 in the second quarter.
"How's our defense going to be? That's No. 1 for me," Auriemma said. "How's our transition defense and transition offense going to be? What kind of connection do we have among ourselves, among each other?"
The schedule following the opener provides a rigorous test. UConn travels to Ann Arbor to face Michigan on Thursday. The Wolverines nearly defeated the Huskies in the final seconds of last season's meeting. The team returns home to Storrs on Sunday to host Iowa. The Hawkeyes feature Ava Heiden, a 6-foot-4 center who received honorable mention All-American status in 2026.
Auriemma views the next two weeks as a diagnostic period. He noted that exhibition results varied, with strong scoring against Texas and poor three-point shooting against Syracuse. The opener against Cornell offers a final opportunity to correct habits before the high-stakes matchups begin. "After Sunday, it'll be burned in our brain exactly who we are," Auriemma said.
