In UConn’s second-round contest on Monday, it led by 53 points at halftime. In the Sweet Sixteen on Friday, the Huskies and North Carolina combined for just 48 points at the break.

UConn didn’t do much right on offense in the first half. The Huskies settled for too many rushed and contested looks. They couldn’t get anything to fall from three, going 1-9. Sarah Strong and Blanca Quiñonez accounted for 24 of UConn's 28 points on 11-18 shooting. Everyone else had four points on 2-18 shooting.

Beyond the numbers, the Tar Heels were the tougher team through the first 20 minutes.

“They did work us a little bit,” Kayleigh Heckel admitted.

UConn went into the locker room needing to settle down and regroup. As the team waited for Geno Auriemma to provide his assessment and make some tweaks, Strong decided to speak up.

“She came in and went around giving people high fives, saying, ‘We’re good, we still have a lead and we didn’t even play that well in the first half,’” Heckel relayed.

For the soft-spoken Strong, she’s made an effort to be more vocal as the Huskies’ best player. She’s gotten louder on the court and in huddles during timeouts, but the locker room is typically a different story. At most, she’ll speak to teammates individually but never to the collective group.

“It’s just so quiet and unassuming. It’s not rah-rah,” Auriemma said of her leadership style.

That is, until Friday.

“I would say today,” Strong said when asked when she first felt comfortable taking charge at halftime. “I don’t know (why today), it’s just important.”