Huskies shake off early lapse
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — After watching her team’s NCAA tournament dominance mostly from the bench for three seasons, Saniya Chong finally made her mark.
Chong scored 16 points and came up with big plays on both ends of the court to help top-seeded UConn beat fourth-seeded UCLA 86-71 Saturday to advance to the Bridgeport Regional final.
“I was looking at the stat sheet — that’s more points tonight than in maybe the three previous NCAA tournaments combined,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said of Chong. “… Today the effort and play of Saniya was, I thought, the difference in the game.”
The win was the Huskies’ 27th straight in NCAA tournament competition and tied Auriemma with late Tennessee coach Pat Summitt for most tourney victories. The Hall of Famers have 112 apiece.
It was the 110th straight victory overall for the Huskies, who will resume their pursuit of a fifth consecutive national championship when they face 10th-seeded Oregon on Monday night. The 10th-seeded Ducks pulled off a tournament surprise by beating Maryland 77-63 in the other semifinal to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time.
“They don’t know enough to be either intimidated or pressured or anything you’d associate with a team doing this for the first time,” Auriemma said of the Ducks. “They are having fun and enjoying the moment as they should. It’s really neat to see. … I said when Kelly Graves was hired that it won’t be long before they’re in the Final Four. I hope it’s not this early, but it won’t be long.”
Napheesa Collier had 27 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and three blocks for UConn (35-0), which shot 55.6 percent (30-for-54) from the field, and Katie Lou Samuelson scored 14 of her 15 points before halftime.
Jordin Canada had 20 points and 11 assists to lead the Bruins (25-9), who jumped out to a 9-2 lead before the Huskies scored 17 of the next 19 points. The seven-point deficit matched the Huskies’ largest this season.
“We like to say that to play with us it’s a marathon, not a sprint,” said Huskies junior guard Gabby Williams, who had 17 points, nine rebounds and six assists. “They came out hard, aggressive — there was 37 minutes left to play.”
UConn led by nine after one quarter and 17 at halftime.
“We had some mental lapses in the second quarter, and that’s when they got on their run,” Canada said. “For a second we looked defeated, and that’s when they capitalized. I think it was our lack of focus.”
The Bruins cut into a 19-point deficit in the third quarter, making it 62-50 with seven straight points late in the period as Monique Billings sandwiched two baskets around a Kari Korver 3-pointer. But Collier and Chong combined to score the next 11 points for UConn during an 11-4 burst to put the game away.
“This is definitely one I’ll remember,” Chong said. “At this time it’s all or nothing.”
Billings added 17 points and 16 rebounds and Korver had 15 points for UCLA, which reached the Sweet 16 in consecutive seasons for the first time.