As UConn celebrated its 70-52 win over Notre Dame in the Elite Eight on Sunday, Sarah Strong looked into the crowd at Dickies Arena in search of her mom. When they finally locked eyes, the sophomore doubled over and then pretended to wipe the sweat off her brow in relief.

Nothing about the Huskies’ weekend in the Fort Worth 1 Regional was easy or pretty. Instead of running past teams with high-pressure defense and free-flowing offense as they’ve done all season, they had to battle through two rock fights. Luckily, style points don’t count for extra — especially not in the NCAA Tournament. Across both games, UConn did what it needed to in order to move on.

Now, the Huskies are going back to the Final Four for the third straight year and 25th time in program history.

“I don't know that there's a perfect answer or a perfect way, but it's always really hard,” Geno Auriemma said after Sunday’s win. “It's always the hardest game there is to play. It's so hard to get to the Final Four… I'm really proud of our players and how we managed to flip the switch a little bit each game, come out in the second half and take what we learned the first half. We did that today. Really, really proud of my players.”

The defense carried the Huskies through the regionals. North Carolina’s 42 points were its fewest of the season while Notre Dame’s 52 were its second-fewest. On Sunday, Hannah Hidalgo put up 22 points but did so on an inefficient 7-19 performance from the field. Nobody else on the Fighting Irish reached double-figures.

“Everyone was playing connected, everyone was communicating, and it was just executed great today,” Ashlynn Shade said about the defensive effort on Hidalgo.

While UConn has typically suffocated opposing teams with its full-court pressure this season, it deployed a different tactic over the weekend. The Huskies pulled back and mostly sat in the half-court, daring North Carolina and Notre Dame to beat them. They couldn’t do it.

There was a trade-off, though. Without the press, UConn didn’t get as many giveaways that turned into easy points the other way. The Huskies only had 13 fast break points in the Sweet Sixteen and 14 in the Elite Eight — well below their season average of 18.8 per game. That meant they had to lean heavily on their half-court offense, which has been inconsistent at best all season long.

Against the Tar Heels, they settled for too many rushed and contested looks. With the Irish, UConn struggled to execute its sets, particularly in the first half. The Huskies improved after the break, but even then, they failed to capitalize on their best chances.

“Friday and today when we were rushing around like crazy on offense, it was so not us,” Auriemma said. “It was atypical of us. That's not who we are. We really don't generally play that chaotic because we are calm.”

It didn’t help that the Huskies shot poorly across the weekend. Despite coming in with the best 3-point percentage in the nation at 39.2 percent, UConn went 4-20 deep against UNC then followed it up with a 6-17 day against Notre Dame. Azzi Fudd, Sarah Strong and Blanca Quiñonez were the lone Huskies to make a triple this weekend. Only Quiñonez did it in both games.

Perhaps it was the extra-tight rims or the overly-inflated balls that Auriemma complained about the previous day. But whatever the reason, UConn figured out a way to win without the three-ball.

Through 38 games, the Huskies haven’t dealt with much real adversity — at least not in games. They fought off a late comeback bid from Michigan in November. They trailed in the second half for the first time all year to Tennessee in February. They dealt with back-to-back rough outings against Marquette and Villanova.

But UConn didn’t flinch when things went awry this weekend. Despite their various struggles in both contests, the Huskies remained composed throughout. They never let panic creep in. Even if they haven’t been in many tight games, Auriemma made sure his team developed the requisite mental toughness to deal with whatever comes their way.

“I would say the adversity is me. Every day for five months, they have to put up with me,” he said. “I try to be for them all the things that can happen at this time of the year that you need to be prepared for. I'm the officials that are calling every single foul in practice. I'm the other team that's making every three. I'm the other team that won't let the ball go in the basket. I'm the one that is changing the rules and making sure that they have to fight through it.”

That fortitude showed through this weekend. The Huskies might not be battle-tested in the traditional sense, but they’ve yet to crack under the pressure. And now, they’ll head to Phoenix for the Final Four with a chance to defend their national title.

“This team, no matter what I throw at them, they always just go, ‘Alright, we got this,’” Auriemma marveled.