The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
UConn women’s basketball rolls past Memphis
UConn enters new year unbeaten for the 10th time in last 12 seasons
The UConn women’s basketball team brought 2017 to a close with yet another convincing conference win.
The Huskies have never lost an American Athletic Conference game and weren’t about to start with Memphis coming into the XL Center on Sunday.
Senior forward Gabby Williams didn’t miss a field-goal attempt as the top-ranked Huskies rolled to a 97-49 victory in its conference opener. This marks the 19th time in the last 24 seasons and 10th time in last 12 campaigns that UConn heads into the new year with an undefeated record.
Williams finished with 20 points on 10 of 10 shooting as she posted her fourth perfect game from the floor while attempting at least seven shots. Williams had seven assists and she also had four steals to move into a tie with Ketia Swanier for 11th on UConn’s career list with 247 steals. Williams came one field goal shy of matching the program record for shots without a miss. Rebecca Lobo was 11 for 11 against Iona on Dec. 23, 1994.
Kia Nurse also had 16 points and three steals, Napheesa Collier had 14 points and nine rebounds and Katie Lou Samuelson had 12 points and a careerhigh nine rebounds. Freshman Megan Walker had 12 points, all in the second half, and Crystal Dangerfield finished with 11 points.
While the Huskies came into the game on a hot streak from the perimeter, UConn made it a point of going inside early and often. UConn had 40 points in paint in the first half. Williams led the way with 12 points on 6 of 6 shooting, while Collier also had 12 points as the Huskies took a 54-29 lead into the locker room at halftime. The 54 points is tied for the second most scored by UConn in the first half this season trailing only the 61 against DePaul on Dec. 8.
Memphis twice made three consecutive field goals, but the rest of the half the Tigers were just 5 of 20 from the field. Things got more challenging once the Huskies turned up the defensive pressure recording six steals in the second quarter alone.
The win was UConn’s 71st straight AAC regular season victory, the third most in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history breaking the tie with Stanford. There’s some work to do to move up as Old Dominion
won 96 straight Colonial Athletic Association games from 1995-2001 and Texas won 124 in a row in the Southwest Conference from 1981-1990. Counting postseason games, UConn is 83-0 in AAC games.
This was also the 70th straight home win, moving the Huskies into sole possession of third place on the NCAA Division I women’s basketball list. UConn has three of the six Division I women’s home winning streaks of at least 69 games.
Before the game, UConn announced that freshman Andra Espinoza-Hunter was not with the team as she returned home to New York to deal with a personal matter. Speaking of freshmen, Mikayla Coombs was the first one to check into the game for the Huskies, playing five minutes in the second quarter.
Brea Elmore had 20 points and Taylor Barnes 13 for Memphis (5-9).