Storrs — Ashlynn Shade grew up in Noblesville, Indiana, in the heart of the state which brought about the movie “Hoosiers” and where filling out an NCAA tournament bracket is practically a birthright.

“We’re such a basketball state. My family embraces it so much,” Shade said. “I’ve grown up watching March Madness since I was little. It’s like a big deal in my family, we’re super competitive with it, like making brackets and everything.

“It’s so surreal to actually finally be a part of it.”

Shade, a freshman for the UConn women’s basketball team, made one heck of an opening statement Saturday afternoon with a career-high 26 points, the highest scoring game in program history for a player in her NCAA tournament debut.

Shade joined UConn’s Paige Bueckers (28 points, 11 rebounds) and Aaliyah Edwards (20 points, 10 rebounds) in the spotlight as third-seeded UConn defeated No. 14 Jackson State 86-64 in the first round of the NCAA tournament before 10,299 fans at sold-out Gampel Pavilion.

The Huskies (30-5) advanced to a second-round game at 6 p.m. Monday at Gampel Pavilion (ESPN), and will face No. 6 Syracuse, a 74-69 winner over No. 11 Arizona.

Bueckers, playing in her first NCAA tournament game in 720 days after missing the entire season a year ago with a torn ACL, was coming off a Big East tournament Most Outstanding Player performance in which she averaged 27.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 4.0 blocks and 3.0 steals in three games.

Meanwhile, Edwards had missed the final two games of the Big East tournament with a broken nose, also making a return in Saturday’s game while wearing a mask.

Ti’lan Boler had 25 points for Jackson State, which finished the season 26-7.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who got the win on what was his 70th birthday, said he pulled Bueckers aside on Friday. He asked her what she thought he was about to say to her.

“She said, ‘That I have to take over the tournament. That I have to do what I did in the Big East tournament and I have to make sure that I'm everything that my team needs me to be,’” Auriemma said. “So she kind of said it for me.

“That’s when I knew that it means a lot to her. ... I know that this was a big, big deal for her.”

Auriemma, meanwhile, has seen Shade’s confidence blossom. Shade was the Big East Conference Freshman of the Year but her scoring trend from earlier in the season waned, with single-digit efforts in three of UConn’s last five games.

The UConn coach said he hoped Shade, who shot 10-for-19 Saturday, 5-for-11 from 3-point range, can absorb a little bit of Bueckers’ swagger going forward.

“I've always said when you’re a really good player and you’re a really good shooter, ‘I have to be more like Paige,’” Auriemma said with a smile. “You have to be slightly delusional and think you’ll never miss a shot and if you do miss it, it's the Gods conspiring against you. It’s not your fault and you should never get down on it and maybe some of that is wearing off on Ash, but she certainly didn't play like a freshman today.

“And she actually played better today than she has at any practice this week leading up to the game. So, figure that one out.”

UConn led Jackson State 49-29 at halftime behind 19 points from Bueckers and 14 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots from Edwards.

Bueckers’ three-point play at the 8:38 mark of the first quarter gave the Huskies the lead for good at 5-4 and launched a 17-0 run that was capped by a three-point play from Shade and gave the Huskies a 19-4 advantage. A 3-pointer by Shade made it 22-8 at the end of one.

Bueckers started the second quarter with a steal and a layup — the shot initially appeared to be blocked but Jackson State’s Miya Crump was called for goaltending — and Edwards followed with a putback to stretch the lead.

Shade finished with 14 points in the third quarter.

“It was definitely really exciting,” Shade said. “I had a lot of nerves and just anxious feeling before the game, like when I went to bed, when I woke up. To step out on the court and going through the starting lineup, to hear how loud our crowd was, I just felt like it was a dream.”

“I think after that run (in the first quarter), we just wanted to continue to keep our foot on the gas. Don’t let up,” Bueckers said. “... We know that every single game during this time everybody’s playing for their lives, so nobody’s going to give up. Nobody is just going to ease off the throttle.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com