How tennis inspired Ashlynn Shade's signature celebration

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Headlines

• Ashlynn Shade coming into her own at UConn

• No. 15 UConn women’s basketball destroys No. 18 Marquette, 95-64

• Geno has 'real high expectations' for Qadence Samuels

• UConn women’s basketball demolishes Creighton, 94-50

• Aubrey Griffin suffers non-contact injury in win over Creighton

Last week’s Weekly

• How Geno assists other UConn programs on the recruiting trail

Elsewhere

• UConn swept the Big East weekly awards. Aaliyah Edwards earned conference player of the week while KK Arnold picked up her fourth Big East Freshman of the Week honor.

• UConn moved up to No. 12 in the AP Poll.

How tennis inspired Ashlynn Shade's signature celebration

Ashlynn Shade’s been around basketball her entire life. Her grandfather, Dave, ran the Indiana Basketball Academy, where she spent plenty of time growing up around the facility and going to camps. Her father, Matt, played at Indiana Wesleyan, an NAIA program. Her home state of Indiana has deep roots in the sport.

But Shade isn’t solely focused on basketball. Tennis holds a place in her heart as well — especially the Wimbledon tournament every summer. Among the action, she was always enthralled by the celebrations. Specifically, the fist pumps from greats like Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Serena Williams.

“I love watching Wimbledon and watching all the top tennis players,” she said, “and every time they score a big point, they always fist pump.”

After years of joking about the celebration with her family, Shade decided to try it out this year. It started with her first career 3-pointer against Maryland but didn’t catch on until she started knocking down triples with more regularity in December. She hit a then-high three shots from deep against Ball State and followed it up with two more against UNC.

“I just did it in the first couple of games, [I thought], ‘Oh, I kind of like doing this,’” she laughed. “So I was like, ‘I'll stick with it.’”

Since then, it’s morphed into Shade’s signature celebration.

“I haven't done this before. I think it's just the new level of play, the excitement around the games,” she explained. “I just get so excited and in the moment when I'm out there so I just kind of do it.”

It hasn’t become second nature to her — at least not yet. She still has to think about it, and sometimes she’s too focused on something else and simply forgets.

When UConn beat Butler, she drilled a career-best four 3-pointers. On that night, she swapped out the fist pump for a smile as she tracked back on defense.

“It depends. When I'm too into the moment, then I'm just like ‘Oh, I gotta get back on defense,’” Shade said. “But if I have a solid time to just be like, ‘Yes!’, then I'll do it.”

Shade’s had plenty of reason to celebrate recently. She’s started six straight games, reached double-figures in all but two games, and hit the 20-point mark in back-to-back wins over Butler and TMU. In the team’s last five contests vs. Division I competition, she’s played more minutes than anyone.

If Shade continues on her current trajectory, there should be plenty more fist pumps this season and beyond.

“She's an amazing scorer and I feel like she's going to show out even more than she has been,” Nika Mühl said.

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