{"id":310392,"date":"2025-10-17T09:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T09:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/310392\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T09:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T09:38:09","slug":"how-international-journey-prepared-blanca-quinonez-for-uconn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/310392\/","title":{"rendered":"How international journey prepared Blanca Quinonez for UConn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perhaps the best highlight of freshman Blanca Quinonez\u2019s<\/a> debut with the UConn women\u2019s basketball<\/a> team in Monday\u2019s exhibition game<\/a> didn\u2019t even show up in the box score.<\/p>\n

Early in the third quarter, Quinonez saw a skip pass coming from sophomore Kayleigh Heckel as she cut towards the top of the arc. The ball flew towards her a few inches too high, slightly behind her momentum in a spot where most would\u2019ve tried to simply catch it and recalibrate \u2014 or fumbled it out of bounds.<\/p>\n

Quinonez instead leaped, flicking a touch pass in mid-air to sophomore forward Sarah Strong<\/a> standing in the paint. Strong immediately had a clear lane to kick it out to redshirt senior Azzi Fudd<\/a> in the corner, who cashed a 3-pointer that put the Huskies ahead of Boston College by 18 points.<\/p>\n

It was an unusually smart play for a freshman, a split-second decision that showed impressive court vision and grace under pressure in her first-ever college game.<\/p>\n

But Quinonez isn\u2019t a typical freshman.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s fun to watch because she\u2019s unpredictable,\u201d coach Geno Auriemma said after the team\u2019s first day of official practice. \u201cShe does some things every day where you really go, only somebody that\u2019s played against really experienced players knows that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise that the 6-foot-2 forward is mature beyond her years, on and off the court. Born and raised in Ecuador, Quinonez moved halfway across the world at 13 years old to pursue elite basketball and attend high school in Italy after she received an offer to play professionally for Magnolia Campobasso<\/a> in the Serie A1 league. Her parents were hesitant to send their daughter more than 6,000 miles away from home by herself, but Quinonez now says it was the best decision they could have made.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision was really hard, because I was really young. My mom and dad didn\u2019t want to leave me,\u201d Quinonez said. \u201cIt was hard, but I\u2019d say that it was fun, because they really gave me all of the things that I needed to grow up, to get better every day and to make this decision to be here at UConn.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Italy, Quinonez had to get comfortable quickly in a world full of unknowns. She was learning a brand new culture and attending school in a language she didn\u2019t speak, all while adjusting to a completely different caliber of basketball. When she made her first game appearance in 2020, she was often competing against grown women, many more than a decade her senior. Playing the European style meant absorbing a complex playbook because of its reliance on halfcourt sets.<\/p>\n

But even once she began excelling overseas, Quinonez never considered playing in the NCAA until 2024, when she started following March Madness and recognized that the American college system could be a valuable step towards unlocking the highest level of her game. When UConn called, Campobasso player development coach Alessandra Formica<\/a> wasn\u2019t surprised, and Quinonez\u2019s mind was made up before she ever set foot in Storrs.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been one of the best European players in the last few years, so I was sure that big schools would be interested in her,\u201d Formica said. \u201cI was only surprised that she committed so quick, because I knew that she had different offers, but when you feel like something is right for you, you just do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

What we learned about UConn women\u2019s basketball in exhibition victory vs. Boston College<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Formica is a former player for the Italian national team and worked as a skills coach with the Dallas Mavericks for four years before joining the staff at Campbasso in 2024. She immediately realized Quinonez was special with her unique combination of size and natural athleticism, which gives her the ability to play and guard multiple positions at an elite level. But Formica said her best trait is her coachability.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince she was young, she\u2019s had this professional mindset,\u201d Formica said. \u201cShe really tries to understand what you\u2019re telling her. It\u2019s not like \u2018Do this\u2019 and that\u2019s it. She tries to understand actually why we\u2019re doing this, and that\u2019s the basketball IQ part that I believe helps her translate things into the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the Serie A1 season ended in April, Quinonez had to miss UConn\u2019s summer session workouts in June to finish her high school graduation requirements in Italy, so she spent the summer training one-on-one with Formica. Formica knew that Quinonez needed to diversify her scoring ability, so most of her workouts focused on developing her 3-point and mid-range shooting. They also worked on adding more finesse change-of-pace skills to her repertoire, because Quinonez will run into players in college who she can\u2019t beat on strength and speed alone.<\/p>\n

Quinonez embraced it all. If you didn\u2019t know better, Formica said no one watching her practice would guess she\u2019s only a teenager.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe makes you go to the gym and do better,\u201d Formica said. \u201cAs a coach I was always like, when I\u2019m working out with Blanca, I\u2019ve got to be ready. I have to step my game up too. The fact that she was challenging me, I loved it \u2026 You expect someone like her to be a little cocky, but she always leads by example. She was the first one in the gym, the last one to leave, always putting in extra shots. Everybody wanted to be around Blanca.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hola Blanca pic.twitter.com\/GkPKokNq15<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 UConn Women\u2019s Basketball (@UConnWBB) October 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At UConn, Quinonez is once again handling a difficult transition with remarkable poise for a player her age. Before arriving in Storrs to begin her first semester, she had only visited the U.S. once when she participated in the NBA\u2019s Basketball Without Borders<\/a> camp in Phoenix in July 2024.<\/p>\n

English is still a major challenge for the freshman, but that hasn\u2019t stopped her from fitting in seamlessly with her new teammates. Fudd said Quinonez has a sneaky sense of humor beneath her more introverted exterior.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe just has some comments \u2026 where it\u2019s like, how do you know that? How do you know how to use that slang?\u201d Fudd said with a laugh. \u201cI feel like I have extra respect for (international players) knowing that they\u2019re so far from home, speaking their second, third, sometimes fourth language \u2026 Seeing her show up every day and be a great player, a great teammate, having great energy, seeing that smile on her face, it\u2019s incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quinonez\u2019s on-court adjustment has also come with growing pains, but Auriemma isn\u2019t concerned about mistakes this early on. She finished 2-for-8 from the field with five turnovers in the Huskies\u2019 scrimmage against Boston College, but she also logged four assists, two steals and a block in less than 20 minutes on the floor. Even if the production isn\u2019t there yet, her potential is already apparent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did tell her that she leads the free world in turnovers,\u201d Auriemma joked postgame. \u201cShe tries to do a lot of things, and in the beginning that\u2019s okay, because she\u2019s out there trying to impact the game \u2026 She\u2019ll throw some passes that no one else can throw \u2014 there were a couple of them today \u2014 and then she\u2019ll throw a couple passes no one else should ever throw. So she\u2019s an adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for Quinonez, the biggest struggle has nothing to do with basketball: The pasta in Connecticut simply can\u2019t compare to what she got used to in Italy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I miss that (the most),\u201d Quinonez said, grinning. \u201cBut the kitchen is doing their best work to make me feel close to Italy too, so it\u2019s not bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

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