STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Sarah Strong thought about the question for a few moments and couldn’t remember having a summer quite like the one she just experienced.
There were no games to play, practices to refine her skills. As a daughter of two professional athletes, basketball dominated Strong’s summers for as long as the preseason AP All-American can remember.
Eager to get fully healthy after rarely practicing during the Huskies’ run to the 2026 Final Four, Strong stayed away from the court. When she got back to playing basketball, she felt reenergized heading into her junior year.
“It helped me health-wise; I think mentally it was good to get a break from playing basketball and working out all the time,” Strong said. “I think I was able to see my family and friends and just kind of be present all the time.”
Now, she is ready to lead second-ranked UConn back to the top after a loss in the Final Four last spring spoiled a championship repeat bid.
Strong is the only player in UConn women’s basketball storied history with at least 1,000 points, 600 rebounds, 250 assists, 200 steals, 100 blocked shots and 100 3-pointers by the end of her sophomore season.
It’s not all about the numbers. Strong is driven by team success. She was a pivotal piece of everything the Huskies did the last two seasons alongside stars like Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd.
This is her show now.
“(When) Sarah decides to say something, no matter what it is, it is quiet and they listen,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “The more she takes advantage of that, the better it is for us. She has been doing that. We had a long conversation in June about what that looks like, what that means. I think when you are a freshman or sophomore, you go, ‘I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes or get in their way.’ I think there comes a point where you can’t worry about that stuff. I like the direction that she is going.”
Making shots, setting up teammates and grabbing rebounds looks so easy for Strong. This year, her voice is essential if the Huskies want to make another title run.
“She definitely has grown so much since her freshman year,” senior guard Ashlynn Shade said. “I think she is just so comfortable in a leadership role, being honest with people, being a vocal leader and helping people out. Obviously, her basketball speaks for herself; that is never going to go away. She is Sarah, she can do anything. You definitely see her stepping up and wanting to push us, wanting to hold us accountable and it has been really good to see it.”
Bueckers led the team that won the national title when Strong was a freshman. Last year, Fudd took on that role. Strong plans on using what she learned from the last two WNBA No. 1 overall picks, but doing things her way.
“It just takes time,” Strong said. “I think I will be more comfortable with it as the season goes on. We just started but I will continue to get better at it in the next year and whatever I have left. I am not Paige; I am going to do it my own way. I can’t really do what she did; I just have to do what I feel comfortable doing and it is going to take time.
“I think it is important because if I am not going to do it, it is not going to happen. I have to fit into that role and start being comfortable with that.”
Perhaps nobody understands what Strong is about to embark on more than UConn assistant coach Nykesha Sales, a dynamic freshman on UConn’s first national championship team. By the time she was a junior, she was asked to be more vocal and take ownership following the graduation of some All-Americans.
“It’s probably the same storyline, to be honest," Sales said. "She came in and won a championship; I came in and won a championship. Now the big dogs leave so you have to not only still produce what you did as a freshman and sophomore, but now you have to be way more vocal. She is a quiet person. I noticed she likes to play, but now she is being more vocal, which will help her career moving forward.”
Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college basketball coverage here
FILE - UConn forward Sarah Strong (21) works against South Carolina during the first half of a woman's NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game at the Final Four, April 3, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri, File)
URDA, Spain (AP) — A high-speed train slammed into the rear of another train that had stopped, derailing two cars and killing at least 30 people on Wednesday in central Spain, authorities said.
The regional president of Castilla La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, said at least 30 people died in the crash and warned that the death toll could rise. He added that at least 80 people were injured.
It was the second major train accident in Spain this year.
Spain’s rail system operator ADIF said the crash occurred Wednesday morning in the province of Toledo. The accident was between two high-speed trains carrying hundreds of passengers and heading in the same direction from the capital Madrid to Seville in southwestern Spain, according to Esther Padilla, spokeswoman for the Castilla La Mancha region.
One ran into the tail of the other that had stopped, knocking two of its cars off the track.
Padilla told state broadcaster TVE that the cause of the crash was not known. Rail service was suspended between Madrid, Ciudad Real and Andalusia.
The crash, which occurred in a flat stretch surrounded by olive fields in between the towns of Urda and Los Yébenes, left one car shredded into bits of metal and other material, scattering debris down a gravel slope.
Spanish Health Minister Mónica García told TVE that emergency workers were focusing on rescuing survivors and bodies from the two most damaged train cars. She said that the injured are being sent to different hospitals in the area.
“It was a high-speed impact, so we are expecting this to be a tragedy,” García said.
The accident involved a train from Spain’s state-owned RENFE company and the private rail company IRYO. It appeared the RENFE train rammed the IRYO train, Spanish media reported. García-Page said 24 died in the RENFE train, and six in the IRYO one.
Padilla said that 397 passengers were in the RENFE train and 147 passengers in the IRYO train.
Trains from those two companies were also involved in a deadly crash in January.
IRYO, an Italian-owned company, said in a statement that it has “activated its security protocols and is closely working with authorities.”
The mayor of the nearby town of Urda, Manuel Galán, told TVE that civil protection authorities had asked his town hall to prepare a sports pavilion to attend to injured passengers.
A military emergency brigade was deployed to help emergency services, firefighters and police. Ambulances and medical helicopters made trips to and from the site, while unscathed survivors were put on buses.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez canceled his agenda to focus on the crash. He wrote on X that he was “dismayed by the serious train accident in Toledo.”
“Emergency services are working on site to attend to the affected passengers,” wrote Sánchez, who faces a national election next month. “All my thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia said in a short statement on X that they were following news of the accident.
“We are deeply saddened and concerned by the train accident in Urda (Toledo),” the royal couple said. “We share in the grief of the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives, and we send our heartfelt support to the injured and all those affected.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said "My heart goes out to the victims’ families and loved ones. Today, Europe mourns with you.”
The wreckage of Wednesday’s crash reminded many of the aftermath of another train collision in January, when 45 people died in southern Spain when a IRYO train jumped the track and hit an oncoming RENFE train. That sent the first two cars of the impacted train plummeting down a four-meter (13-foot) slope.
That crash was the deadliest in Spain since a 2013 crash that killed 80 people.
The January incident shook confidence in the European country's extensive high-speed rail service.
Over recent decades, Spain has invested heavily in high-speed rail — which the country’s railway union defines as rails for trains going 250 kph (155 mph) and over — turning it into a world leader.
Spain has laid some 3,900 kilometers (2,400 miles) of such tracks over more than three decades for its 49 million residents. Only China, with 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles) for its 1.4 billion people, has more high-speed track, according to the International Union of Railways.
Only recently did Spain open its rail network to private companies to compete against RENFE. IRYO started operating in Spain in 2022.
Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain.
Emergency services work at the scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Emergency services work at the scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
This framegrab taken from a video provided by Guardia Civil shows an aerial view of carriages and first responders on the site of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, Wednesday Oct. 28, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)
This framegrab taken from a video provided by Guardia Civil shows an aerial view of carriages and first responders on the site of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, Wednesday Oct. 28, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)
This framegrab taken from a video provided by Guardia Civil shows an aerial view of carriages and first responders on the site of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, Wednesday Oct. 28, 2026. (Guardia Civil via AP)
Emergency services attend to the victims at the scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (Juanma Jiménez/Europa Press via AP)
The scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (Juanma Jimenez/Europa Press via AP)
The scene of a collision between two trains in Urda, Spain on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (Juanma Jimenez/Europa Press via AP)
