The Connecticut women’s team was in an online group chat while watching the Maryland-Baltimore County men upset top-seeded Virginia on Friday night in the first round of the N.C.A.A. tournament.

The players assured one another that they were not going to let anything similar happen to them. All upset hopes ended in the first few minutes on Saturday in Storrs, Conn.

Azura Stevens scored 26 points to lead six UConn players in double figures, and the No. 1 Huskies opened their tournament with a record-setting 140-52 rout of 16th-seeded St. Francis of Pennsylvania.

“Watching a No. 1 go down kind of motivated us to kind of come out from the start to be ready to go,” said Stevens, who also had 10 rebounds.