Collier a consistent presence

STORRS >> With Katie Lou Samuelson in the midst of one of the most explosive offensive seasons in UConn women’s basketball history, Gabby Williams flirting with a triple-double on a nightly basis and Kia Nurse providing leadership and consistent production on both ends of the court, Napheesa Collier has been allowed to toil in relative obscurity despite putting up some rather gaudy numbers of her own.

As UConn hosts Houston at the XL Center on Saturday at noon looking for a record 95th straight victory, Collier will look for her typically efficient offensive output after hitting eight field goals in five of UConn’s last six games.

In the last nine games, the sophomore forward from O’Fallon, Missouri hadn’t attempted more than 13 shots or fewer than 10. She has scored in double figures

in 16 straight games with four double-doubles coming during that stretch.

If she scores in double figures again, she will have more points through the first 20 games of the season than former national player of the year Breanna Stewart ever managed. In fact the only players who would be ahead of her would be Maya Moore, Nykesha Sales, Samuelson, Kerry Bascom, Rebecca Lobo and Peggy Walsh.

“I think in preseason I was working hard and felt like I could be pretty reliable,” said Collier, who is averaging 19.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.7 blocked shots per game while shooting 66.5 percent from the field. “I think consistency is key with whatever you are doing, you can be consistent rebounding the ball, you can be consistent with scoring. My confidence from last year has grown a lot so when you are more confident, you take more risks and take shots because you think the ball is going to go in.”

Collier isn’t the only person who thinks all of her shots are going in. Junior forward Gabby Williams admits to hearing gasps of disbelief from the bench and the fans when Collier misses a shot in the lane.

“I think her being one of those blue-collar players, she does everything, she gets every rebound, she gets steals, she works hard but she is not flashy so people (overlook) it,” Williams said. “You see her numbers and she gets the quietest 20 points in the game. She is smart, she knows how to score and she is physical and she has a nice touch.

“She has just skyrocketed this year this year and she has become one of my favorite people that I have ever played with. I think we just know each other really well. I know if I’m not going to get a rebound that she is going to get it. She is a reason why I get close to a tripledouble because she is going to score every time I get her the ball.”

With Samuelson averaging 21.8 point points per game, the two sophomores have combined for 769 points in the first 19 games. If they score a combined 20 points, they will break the mark for most points by a pair of UConn teammates through the first 20 games of the season which was set by Maya Moore an Tiffany Hayes during the 2010-11 campaign.

“They know they are going to play ‘x’ number of minutes, they know they are going to get ‘x number of shots and everybody else on the team does as well,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “Those two (Williams and Saniya Chong) don’t see themselves as primary scorers so Saniya is not hesitant to give the ball up neither is Gabby so it not like guys are fighting for shots. Everybody knows they are going to get their share of shots. Up to this point we don’t necessarily have any problems getting them shots.”

Collier has done most of her damage around the basket.

“I haven’t really been shooting too much outside,” Collier said. “I just knew that after last year that I really needed to get better so I was focusing on that. I was working on the post, working on different moves that was mostly what I did.”

Samuelson has been scoring at will, mostly on the perimeter,

If Samuelson makes three 3-pointers, she will tie Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis’s program record for fewest games needed to drain 150 3-pointers. Mosqueda Lewis reached the plateau in her 57th career game and this will be the 57th game Samuelson has played at UConn. Maya Moore (66 games), Diana Taurasi (67 games), Mel Thomas (84 games), Ann Strother (85 games) are next on the list while Sue Bird and Jen Rizzotti each accomplished the feat in 88 games.

Samuelson would be the third member of her family to have at least 150 career 3-pointers. Her oldest sister Bonnie had 237 3-pointers in her four season at Stanford while Karlie Samuelson is at 203 treys and counting.

Katie Lou Samuelson was able to tune into the game when Karlie hit the 200th 3-pointers of her career.

“My whole family was excited but it was kind of funny, they kept calling her Bonnie in the game night so we were laughing about that,” Samuelson said. “It is Bonnie and Karlie (in the 200 3-point club) now so they are confused.”

The NCAA’s database doesn’t go back to list all the players with at least 200 career 3-pointers so there’s no way of knowing how many sister combinations have at least 150 or 200 3-pointers.