As Ashlynn Shade began to pack for UConn’s trip to Fort Worth, she called Allie Ziebell with an important question.

“Do you think it’s okay if I pack my cowboy boots?” Shade asked.

“Yeah, you do your girl,” Ziebell responded.

Shade first acquired them last summer at a Boot Barn in Connecticut. They weren’t her first pair — she has some back home but found it difficult to “commute my boots”, as she put it. Before coming to Fort Worth, Shade had exclusively worn them to country music concerts but broke them out for dinner on Wednesday night.

They proved to be appropriate attire. The local steakhouse they ate at had live music — country, naturally.

“I was like, ‘This is my perfect vibe. I could sit out here all night,’” Shade said.

Afterwards, the team ended up in Sundance Square, where the junior got to take a picture with a giant rhinestone cowboy hat. It’s little surprise that Shade, who earned the nickname “Yeehaw” thanks to her love of the genre and the twang in her voice, fits in well with a city known as “Cowtown”.

“I feel like this is her dream tournament,” Ziebell said. “She has not stopped smiling since we have landed.”

“This is her place,” Blanca Quiñonez added.

Shade isn’t the only member of the Huskies to own cowboy boots. Since Ziebell is her “designated concert person”, Shade wanted to make sure the sophomore was properly outfitted.

“She actually gave me a gift card thing to go get my own pair of boots. Now I have boots because of her,” Ziebell said.

Among the artists they’ve seen are Jon Pardi and Kane Brown. After the season, they have tickets for Hudson Westbrook and Jordan Davis as well. Ziebell didn’t arrive at UConn as a big country music fan, though she didn’t totally oppose it, either. But now?

“Since hanging out with her, I've gotten into it more, for sure,” Ziebell said.

Shade hasn’t spent much time in Texas prior to this trip. But as she walked around Fort Worth on Thursday morning, she realized she’d been missing out.

“Me and Azzi were on a walk this morning to get coffee, and she's like, ‘Oh, if you could live anywhere, where would you be?’ I'm like, ‘Well, now this is looking like a great spot,’” Shade laughed. “I never would have thought of this just because I haven't been to Texas too often. But no, I like the vibe here and all the music and all the cowboy boots.”