HARTFORD — UConn’s women turned a tied exhibition into a comfortable second-half win Monday night, beating Texas 83–61 at PeoplesBank Arena behind 27 points from Sarah Strong and 22 from freshman Jovana Popovic.
The teams were level at 37 at halftime. Connecticut then held Texas to eight third-quarter points while scoring 19, and followed with a 27–16 fourth quarter. The Huskies won the second half 46–24, according to the quarter-by-quarter figures in UConn’s official report.
Popovic made seven of 11 shots, collected seven rebounds and handed out five assists. Ashlynn Shade added 11 points. UConn shot 53.6 percent overall and made 10 of 18 three-point attempts — a markedly different perimeter performance from its three-for-22 showing in the October 12 exhibition against Syracuse.
The contrast offers a useful preseason checkpoint, not a regular-season result. UConn won the earlier Syracuse exhibition 88–60 at Mohegan Sun Arena; Monday’s separate game was played in Hartford. Neither exhibition adds a regular-season or Big East victory.
UConn lists Army as its final preseason opponent on Sunday, October 25, at 4 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion. The game details and player statistics above come from the university’s postgame report.