The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Huskies pass big road test
UConn overcomes slow start, holds on down stretch
AUSTIN, Texas — Dealing with a hostile home crowd of nearly 12,000 fans, it look every bit of resolve and toughness for the top-ranked UConn women’s basketball team to escape with a 75-71 win over No. 7 Texas on Monday at the Erwin Center.
UConn had a chance to go up by five in the final minute when Azurá Stevens grabbed a missed shot by Crystal Dangerfield, but she missed a layup to keep it 73-70 with 40.5 seconds left to play.
Lashann Higgs clanged a layup off the side of the rim for Texas and Katie Lou Samuelson grabbed the rebound. Samuelson had a chance to ice the game but missed a pair of foul shots. They were the first two misses by the Huskies at the line after making their first 15. Audrey-Ann CaronGoudreau made 1 of 2 from the line at the other end with 15.5 seconds to play. Dangerfield clinched the game with a pair of free throws.
The Huskies (16-0), looking for its program record sixth straight true road win against a team ranked in the top 10 in the Associated Press poll, gave up 10 offensive rebounds to the Longhorns, had only two fast-break points and at one point had two assists and eight turnovers.
However, after a nervous start defensively, UConn got it together and headed into the locker room at halftime with a one-point lead.
Texas started the game making 4 of its first 7 from 3-point range but missed its last seven. Some of that can be chalked up to some questionable shot selection, but Ariel Atkins also sat out the entire second quarter with two fouls.
In the second half, baskets by Jatarie White, Booke McCarty and Atkins gave Texas the fivepoint lead. Layups by Williams and Kia Nurse followed by a Nurse 3-pointer put the Huskies up 52-50. It looked like the advantage would be doubled when Gabby Williams came up with a steal, just the second of the game
for the Huskies, but she missed the layup.
Still, Samuelson would make a pair of foul shots to give UConn its first twopossession lead of the game and the cushion grew to six on a Napheesa Collier 3-pointer. UConn went into the fourth quarter up by six.
Collier picked up a pair of offensive fouls in the first 1:48 of the fourth quarter and Texas pulled within a point after a basket by Jordan Hosey. Stevens answered with a pair of layups to push the UConn advantage to 69-64.
Samuelson had 19 points, Stevens 16 points and Nurse added 13 for UConn. Dangerfield had 11 points as UConn won its NCAA Division I women’s basketball record 45th straight road game.
After a Dangerfield jumper opened the scoring, Texas took command with back to back 3-pointers by McCarty and Atkins followed by a long jumper by Lashann Higgs to go up 8-2.
Five straight points by Samuelson made it a onepoint game, and later in the quarter a three-point play by Williams had the Huskies only down by two. But Atkins and McCarty once again hit back-to-back 3-pointers to help the Longhorns push the lead to 10 points.
White had 18 points, McCarty and Atkins had 14 each and Higgs 13 for Texas.
With UConn doing a much better job defending the trio of Atkins, Higgs and McCarty on the perimeter, the Longhorns missed seven straight shots at one point in the second quarter. A pair of free throws by Nurse gave the Huskies their first lead since the early stages although McCarty answered almost immediately with a runner in the lane while Jatarie White had six points during a 9-0 run to put Texas ahead 37-29.
Dangerfield hit a 3-pointer, Samuelson did the same and then assists on a fastbreak layup by Nurse.
Dangerfield stole the ensuing inbounds pass and although she missed a 3-pointer with seven seconds to play in the second quarter, Williams snared the offensive rebound leading to Napheesa Collier’s layup with 2 seconds left in the half to put UConn ahead 39-38.
It was 20th time UConn has played on Martin Luther King Jr. Day but first one since 2013.