STORRS, Conn. – The second-seeded and third-ranked UConn women's basketball team (31-3) hosts No. 15-seed Arkansas State (21-10) in the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship First Round on Saturday in a sold-out Gampel Pavilion. The game will air on ABC and the UConn Sports Network from Learfield (FOX Sports 97-9).

UConn enters the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed for the seventh time in program history. This is UConn's 36th overall and straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, dating back to the 1988-89 season.

UConn is 136-24 overall in the NCAA Tournament, which is the winningest record in the sport. The Huskies are 31-2 all-time in the First Round and have won 30 straight First Round games.

UConn beat No. 22 Creighton, 70-50, for the program's 12th straight conference tournament title. Redshirt senior Paige Bueckers scored 24 points and became the first-ever three-time BIG EAST Tournament Most Outstanding Player after averaging 22.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists.

Freshman Sarah Strong had her third straight double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds while graduate student Azzi Fudd had 13 points. Both Strong and Fudd were named to the All-Tournament Team.

This is the first-ever meeting between UConn and Arkansas State. UConn has never faced any of the teams in Storrs this weekend (Oklahoma State, South Dakota State).

Arkansas State won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship to advance to the program's first NCAA Tournament. This season, Zyion Shannon leads the Red Wolves with 11.0 points per game. Head coach Destinee Rogers is in her third season as head coach. Arkansas State leads the nation in three point attempts (32.5) and three pointers made (10.6) per game.