BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Saniya Chong fell hard after a rattling foul late in Connecticut’s 86-71 victory over U.C.L.A. on Saturday. She made two free throws, then soon jogged to the sideline. She rinsed a small cut on her lip with a swig of water and spit into a cup, as if the game were being played by rounds instead of quarters.
U.C.L.A. cuffed UConn in the semifinals of the Bridgeport Regional with speed, athleticism and perseverance. The Bruins jumped ahead, 9-2, then recovered after falling far behind. The Huskies were never on the ropes, but players admitted feeling a grinding exhaustion against an opponent that kept charging ahead, undeterred by the score or by UConn’s reputation.
In the end, it was Chong, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, who settled the Huskies (35-0) by breaking U.C.L.A.’s press with her ball handling, making timely assists, hitting crucial shots, grabbing vital rebounds and continuing to erase three previous seasons of what had been a frustrating, largely unfulfilled career.
“The effort and play of Saniya, I thought it was the difference,” Coach Geno Auriemma said.
She is the least celebrated of UConn’s starters, a player of great scoring ability out of Ossining High School in New York whose college career, until this year, had seemed undermined by convulsive consistency, indifferent defense, injury and brittle confidence.
Until Chong delivered 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists against U.C.L.A., she had never scored in double figures in an N.C.A.A. tournament game. Auriemma wondered whether it was more points than all of her previous tournament games combined.
But Chong’s senior season has brought a validation born of resolve and finality. In UConn’s taut opener against Florida State in November, she hit all six of her shots, every one indispensable in a 78-76 victory. She ranks third in the nation in assist-turnover differential (3.63). And in recent weeks, she has felt the acuteness of a series of “lasts” on her career timeline. Last home game. Last N.C.A.A. tournament. Last chance to win a championship as a major contributor.
“I don’t get these days back,” said Chong, 22. “It’s always ‘last this, last that.’ You can’t just let it go.”
Despite her frequent personal exasperation, no player has won more college basketball games than Chong and her fellow senior at UConn, Tierney Lawlor, a seldom-used substitute.
A victory over Oregon in Monday’s regional final would inflate their career records to 152-1, extend UConn’s winning streak to 111 games and keep the Huskies on course to win a fifth consecutive national championship in what amounts to a magnificent basketball Iditarod.
In previous N.C.A.A. tournaments, Chong was often a passenger along for the ride. Now, as her team’s only senior starter, she is a trail blazer.
“I struggled for the past three years,” she said. “Senior year, I want the young girls to look up to me.”
During her final season at Ossining High in 2012-13, Chong averaged 34.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 9.1 assists. She was named national player of the year. Auriemma remembers scouting her and seeing her score 45 or so points in a chaotic, run-and-gun style.
“If she could have passed it to herself, she would have,” he joked.
Arriving at UConn, though, Chong struggled in many areas. Blending into a team full of stars. Sharing the ball. Playing defense with enthusiasm. Moments of brilliance — Chong scored her career high of 20 points the last time UConn lost a game, at Stanford, on Nov. 17, 2014 — were undercut by periods of unreliability. Seasons began with promise, then ebbed like a battery losing its charge.
Explaining Chong’s career, Auriemma moved his hand up and down like a roller coaster. She did not disagree.
“My consistency, I really struggled with that,” she said. “In the past, I would have a really good week, but then drop down like I didn’t even exist. That was one of my huge problems.”
Last season, Chong was bothered by iliotibial band syndrome, irritation of the tissue that runs on the outside of the thigh from the hip to the knee. She seldom practiced, starting only three games.
“I’m a believer in that people who lose confidence, it’s because they aren’t working hard enough,” Chris Dailey, the longtime associate head coach at UConn, said of Chong. “I think she’s learned to work hard, to be responsible on and off the court. She’s learned that there isn’t anyone who can really stop her except her. I couldn’t be happier for her. She’s grown up so much.”
On Saturday, with the freshman guard Crystal Dangerfield appearing out of sorts as UConn’s sixth woman, Chong played 38 of the game’s 40 minutes. When U.C.L.A. cut the lead to 62-50 and UConn appeared unnerved, Chong responded with a 3-pointer, a layup and an assist to put the game out of reach.
“That didn’t surprise me,” said U.C.L.A.’s coach, Cori Close. “You can’t do a good job on just two or three players with Connecticut. You have to do a phenomenal, A-plus job on the team.”
Afterward, Auriemma paid Chong his ultimate compliment: “She’s become a really good defender, really good. I trust her. Never thought I’d say that, but I trust her.”
As the N.C.A.A. tournament opened, Auriemma said: “I don’t know where we’d be without Saniya Chong right now. That’s how much she’s changed and added to our program.”
And, he told her, she would have to keep playing dependably for UConn to win its fifth consecutive title. “I don’t know how many people understand this,” Auriemma said to Chong, “but you might be the most important kid out on the court for as long as we play.”
