The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UConn breaks own record with 91st consecutive win
Six-year-old mark falls after 88-48 rout of SMU in Dallas.
DALLAS — Top-ranked UConn broke its own NCAA record with its 91st consecutive victory, scoring the first 21 points and romping past SMU 88-48 on Saturday.
Coach Geno Auriemma and the Huskies (16-0, 4-0 AAC) broke the record of 90 wins in a row that his team first accomplished more than six years ago. They matched that mark with a 65-point rout of No. 20 South Florida last Tuesday.
The four-time defending national champion Huskies haven’t lost a game since falling in overtime at sixthranked Stanford on Nov. 17, 2014.
Their first 90-game winning streak broke the Division I record of 88 straight wins by the UCLA men’s basketball team and famed coach John Wooden.
That UConn streak also started after a loss to Stanford, in the 2008 national semifinal game, and ended with another loss at Stanford on Dec. 30, 2010.
While the only way UConn will play Stanford this season will be in the NCAA Tournament, the Huskies do have wins this season over secondranked Baylor, third-ranked Maryland and sixth-ranked Notre Dame — the latter two on the road.
Katie Lou Samuelson scored 28 points and Naphessa Collier added 19 points and a career-high 16 rebounds for UConn, while Gabby Williams also had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, along with six assists.
Alicia Froling led SMU (107, 1-3) with 16 points and 12 rebounds. The junior from Australia entered the game as the AAC’s top rebound at 10.6 per game.
UConn is 58-0 in American Athletic games in its four seasons since joining that league, plus nine more wins while sweeping through the conference tournament each of the past three seasons.
Samuelson was 11 of 21 shooting and had five 3-pointers, finishing one point short of matching her career high.
She had 10 points in the first quarter, when Collier had nine points and seven rebounds as UConn jumped out to a 26-2 lead.
The Mustangs are 0-7 against UConn, and had lost the first six by an average margin of 51 points.
With another NCAA record in hand, the real focus for the Huskies is getting back to Dallas in about 2 1/2 months for the Final Four and going for their 12th national championship — and fifth in a row.
The national semifinal games are March 31 at the American Airlines Center, the home of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, which is about 5 miles from the SMU campus. The national title game is April 2.
UConn goes for its 92nd consecutive victory at Tulsa on Tuesday night, then returns home to play Tulane on Jan. 22.
Brad Marchand had two goals and three assists to lift Boston past slumping Philadelphia, which lost for the eighth time in 10 games (2-6-2). Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Torey Krug and David Krejci also scored for the Bruins. Krejci’s was his 500th point.
Filip Forsberg scored with 11:54 remaining in the third period as Nashville rallied to hand Colorado its 12th loss in its past 13 home games. A day after being acquired from the Avalanche in a trade, Predators forward Cody McLeod had a goal and a fight, facing off against former teammate Jarome Iginla in the second period.
Brock McGinn had a goal and three assists, linemates Jordan Staal and Elias Lindholm each had a goal and two assists to lead Carolina. The Hurricanes overcame a 3-1 deficit.
Andreas Athanasiou scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Detroit went on to beat Pittsburgh, which had a potential tying goal disallowed for goaltender interference.
Jaromir Jagr scored early in the third period, helping Florida beat Columbus. James Reimer made 30 saves. Nazem Kadri scored twice in his first start with Toronto and Curtis McElhinney made 35 saves as the Maple Leafs moved into a tie with Ottawa for third in the Atlantic Division. Alexei Emelin, Max Pacioretty and Paul Byron scored in a 62-second span of the third period to lift Montreal past New York. Hampus Lindholm, Nick Ritchie and Ryan Kesler scored, and Jonathan Bernier earned his first shutout of the season for Anaheim. Minnesota scored goals on its first three shots, saw a 4-0 lead erased by Dallas, then won on Jason Zucker’s goal in the third period. Late Late Late