Boston Celtics vice president of team operations and organizational growth Allison Feaster had one shining moment in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament that is always replayed this time of the year.
The former Harvard star was part of one of the greatest upsets in March Madness history, but Feaster is hopeful that her daughter, University of Connecticut freshman forward Sarah Strong, can have her own shining moment as a champion with the Huskies.
“I just have an overwhelming sense of gratitude,” Feaster told Andscape. “Gratitude for those who’ve wrapped their arms around her and embraced her so that she’s held to a standard of excellence at UConn. Grateful that her steps have been ordered [in such a way] that she gets to experience this once-in-a-lifetime moment alongside her teammates. Grateful to be a spectator and supporter. Just grateful to be on this journey with her.
“So much goes into getting to this type of potentially life-defining moment. I’m hoping she is able to enjoy this wonderful ride and stay in the moment.”
Feaster is now with the Boston Celtics front office and is a former WNBA star. But back on March 14, 1998, she led Harvard as the first No. 16 seed to upset a No. 1 seed in women’s tournament history. Feaster had 35 points and 13 rebounds in a 71-67 win over host Stanford in Palo Alto, California.
That Harvard NCAA tournament run ended after Feaster had 28 points and 11 rebounds in an 82-64 loss to ninth-seeded Arkansas in the second round. Even so, her remarkable feat will live forever in the annals of March Madness history.
“It seems like it always comes up around this time,” Feaster said. “Obviously, the highlight is the upset. But my fondest memory is probably the process that it took to get there. Those are such formative years and made lifelong friendships. And to be able to do something special with your teammates is what makes it unforgettable.”
On Saturday, Feaster and the college basketball world isn’t expecting an upset when her daughter makes her NCAA tournament debut for No. 2 seed UConn against 15th-seed Arkansas State (ABC, 1 p.m. ET).
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Strong lived up to the hype as the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2024 during her freshman season at UConn. The 2025 Big East Freshman of the Year averaged 16 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.6 blocks for UConn this season and is expected to be acknowledged as the freshman of the year in women’s college basketbaall. Strong ranked in the top 10 in program history for freshmen in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots. She is also the first NCAA Division I freshman with at least 500 points, 250 rebounds, 100 assists, 50 steals and 50 blocked shots since Basketball Hall of Famer and former Tennessee star Candace Parker.
“I’m really pleased,” Feaster said. “I’m really impressed, first and foremost, by the defensive player that she is. She is leading the team in steals and blocks and those are things that directly impact winning and I couldn’t be more proud. I know she’s growing and gaining more confidence in her role. And the fact that she’s playing alongside Paige [Bueckers] and Azzi [Fudd] is just unreal…
“It’s been great. It’s taken some of the pressure of her. She had pressure obviously coming in as the No. 1 recruit in the country, but zero pressure to do anything other than be who she is in the court.”
Strong’s basketball DNA definitely comes from her parents.
After Harvard, Feaster played in the WNBA for the Los Angeles Sparks, Charlotte Sting and Indiana Fever from 1998 to 2008. She also played professionally in Portugal, France, Spain and Italy before retiring in 2016. Danny Strong, Sarah’s father, averaged 12.5 points and 4.9 rebounds for NC State from 1995-97 after transferring from a junior college. The 1997 All-Atlantic Coast Conference tournament team selection also played professionally in France.
Sarah Strong was born in Madrid, Spain, on Feb. 3, 2006. She spent the first 10 years of her life living with her parents in Spain, watching her mother play, and is fluent in Spanish. She said her parents never pressured her to play basketball and watching her mom play helped her fall in love with the game naturally.
“They said, ‘If you don’t want to do this, [I] could stop wasting my time,’ ” Strong said to Andscape during the 2024 Hoop Summit in Portland, Oregon. “I said, ‘I want to play basketball. I want to go to college and want do this…’
“So, I was playing with my mom’s club team’s [youth team]. That’s when I really began to love it, because that’s what she was doing and I wanted to do the same. I just remember them practicing and me having the ball on the side. I was just trying to do the drills the team was doing. Watching her play was a lot of fun.”
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Feaster is still excelling in basketball as not just one of the highest-ranking African American women but women overall in American pro sports.
After retiring from playing, Feaster joined the NBA’s Basketball Operations Associate Program in hopes of earning a front-office career. She started her front-office career as the NBA G League’s manager of player personnel and coach relations. She joined the Celtics as director of player development in 2019 before eventually being promoted to her current position. The women’s sports advocate is also a co-lead for Boston Celtics United, the Celtics’ social justice initiative to impact social and racial inequities in Black and brown communities in Greater Boston, and has served as a Sports Envoy for the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
“I’m definitely extremely proud of her,” Strong said. “Just to be able to have her go through that and having her walk me through what I’m going through definitely means a lot. I’m pretty much just proud of her, just trying to follow footsteps and create my own path at the same time…
“There’s not a lot of women that are in that position, not a lot of Black women in that position. There have been doors that she has been able to open.”
As Feaster moved up the ranks in the NBA, her daughter lived with her father in North Carolina, playing herself into the top high school girls basketball player in the Class of 2024. The former Grace Christian High (N.C.) forward was the 2024 Naismith High School Player of the Year and a McDonald’s, Naismith, SLAM and Jordan Brand All-American. She averaged 21.0 points, 16.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.8 steals per game as a senior.
Picking UConn to play for legendary head coach Geno Auriemma was an easy choice for Strong, who felt she could “succeed the most there.”
“It’s been a dream of mine since I was a little kid,” Strong said. “The players that I love, the players that I look up to went to UConn. And Geno, he’s a great coach, obviously.”
Danny Strong supported his daughter in North Carolina full-time after Feaster moved to Boston when she was hired by the Celtics in 2019. Sarah Strong showed love and respect for the support her father has given her while Feaster has ascended as an executive in the pro basketball ranks.
Allison Feaster
“He’s pretty much been there from the beginning watching videos my mom would send him and just telling me what I could have done [on the court],” Strong said. “And when I went to the U.S. it was just pretty much him. He’s the one I’m in the gym with at seven o’clock in the morning. Whatever I need, he’s there to do and it really means a lot to me.”
Feaster said it was “very difficult” for her to be apart from Sarah while she was in high school. Feaster appreciates Sarah’s understanding and Danny’s support of their daughter during this time. Feaster is now married to Milwaukee Bucks assistant general manager Milt Newton, who is based in Milwaukee.
“She understands the sacrifices that we made as parents to help position her for success,” Feaster said about Sarah. “I haven’t lived with her since I joined the Celtics, and that’s been very difficult for both of us. But to see me grinding and hustling so that people like me can have opportunities like this, I would like to think it’s inspiring to her. I know I feel like she’s proud of me
“I missed out on some things. It’s not easy. This is already a difficult lifestyle for people who have their families and their support system with them physically year-round, and to be kind of physically solo. Although I do have a support system — my family is back in North Carolina, my daughter [in Storrs, Connecticut]; my husband in Milwaukee. So yeah, that’s probably the most difficult thing, not having that day-to-day support.”
Feaster is hands-on with the Celtics players in her position and is a regular at their home and away games. Sarah Strong has attended some Celtics home games and practices since her mother joined the franchise. The mother and daughter also had a lot of fun sitting next to each other at Celtics home games during the 2024 NBA Finals en route to the championship.
“She was videoing me and sending it to her friends and grabbing my arm and pulling me down,” Feaster said about their emotions during the Finals games.
Feaster also has been a regular at her daughter’s home games, which are roughly 90 miles from Boston in Storrs, and attended away games as well. Feaster has the support of Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens to be at Sarah’s NCAA tournament games.
“Brad has a son who’s playing college basketball for Notre Dame and understands the main thing is the main thing and you can’t get these years back,” Feaster said. “I’m going to be at those NCAA games for sure.”
Strong is a do-it-all forward who appears destined to be a legend at UConn then to follow her mom into the WNBA.
So, if Feaster in her prime could play her daughter 1-on-1, who would win?
“I would win because I’m an absolutely dog and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get a stop and a bucket,” Feaster said. “I would run her ragged physically. Not physical talent, but just that part. I don’t know what she would say, but she knows the time.”
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