The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Dangerfield delivers in the clutch
2 foul shots in final seconds help Huskies win at Texas
AUSTIN, Texas — Six seconds remained in Crystal Dangerfield’s first collegiate game when the highly touted guard stepped to the foul line with a chance to give the UConn women’s basketball team a threepoint lead. While she made her first shot, the second one was no good. All Dangerfield could do was breathe a sigh of relief when Florida State’s Imani Wright’s potential gamewinning jumper was no good.
Fast forward to a midFebruary game at Tulane and Dangerfield missed four foul shots in the final 29 seconds as the Huskies once again had to hold on for a hard-earned road victory.
On Monday, eight seconds were left to play when Dangerfield found herself stepping to the charity stripe in another nip-andtuck affair. Host Texas had pulled within two points aided by the fact that 83 percent free-throw shooter Katie Lou Samuelson, her left eye nearly closed thanks to swelling and bruising from a first-quarter elbow, missed two foul shots.
Dangerfield looked nothing like a 64 percent career free-throw shooter when she calmly made both shots to provide the final points in the 75-71 victory.
“Last year in the very first game we played at Florida State, we had a chance to ice the game and she missed those free throws,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “She is a different person now, a different mindset. She has grown up a lot, she really has tremendous confidence in her abilities right now. She doesn’t question herself. She is still young, but she has grown a lot and I trust her. That is the best thing I could say.”
A lack of trust was an issue when UConn’s bid for a fifth straight national title ended with a stunning overtime loss to Mississippi State at the 2017 Final Four. Dangerfield did not play in the final 5:26 or in overtime even though she had the skills to disrupt the Bulldogs’ tournament star Morgan William.
Auriemma has as much confidence in Dangerfield these days as anybody on his current roster. Dangerfield rewarded her coach with another solid effort.
“Just being calm and knowing I can make those shots, knowing that I have done it 1000 times and I
knew I could do it in a game,” Dangerfield said.
Dangerfield played all 40 minutes for the third time this season. Much like the UCLA and Notre Dame games, she not only had to run the offense as UConn’s starting point guard but had a challenging defensive assignment as well against an experienced and proven opposing backcourt. She went up against Texas senior Brooke McCarty for long stretches in what proved to be an entertaining game-within-the-game showdown.
“She is more confident than she has been in the past,” McCarty said. “You could tell when she is out there, she is directing her team, she is taking the shots are open. I think that is really good for her that her confidence is showing.”
Auriemma compared Dangerfield’s situation on Monday night to what McCarty faced during her sophomore season when she matched up against UConn senior All-American guard Moriah Jefferson.
“Just to play against the best is always good to measure yourself and measure your team . ... So just playing against them and the players he (Auriemma) has is a good measure of yourself and your team,” McCarty said.
Dangerfield’s final line of 11 points, three assists, one steal and two turnovers doesn’t provide a true indication of her impact in the game. With UConn down eight with two minutes left in the second quarter, it was Dangerfield who calmly drained a 3-pointer to begin a 10-1 half-ending run.
It looked as if Dangerfield was going to retreat along with the rest of her teammates to keep the Longhorns from having an open look on the final possession of the half. Instead, she stopped and when the inbounds pass was thrown she left her feet to snare the pass. Although she missed a jumper 24 seconds later, Gabby Williams grabbed the rebound and set up Napheesa Collier for the layup to give the Huskies the one-point lead at halftime.
“Going back to the Notre Dame game we got down big and we got down here too so it was just a matter of we’ve done it before and we can do it again,” Dangerfield said.
In the fourth quarter she assisted on a basket by Gabby Williams as UConn regained the lead and threw a brilliant pass to Azura’ Stevens to give the Huskies a five-point lead with 1:36 to play. Dangerfield also played a significant role in forcing Texas to miss 13 of its final 14 3-point attempts.
Dangerfield has played well in every game against a ranked opponent this season and had a sensational effort against Baylor in her second career game a season ago, but it could be argued that she hasn’t had to contribute as much under duress since arriving at UConn as she did against the Longhorns.
“She made so many big plays today,” Auriemma said. “I would be here over the next half hour if I went over every play I think had a big impact. I do say to our team all the time that one particular play doesn’t lose you a game but you make one play when you have to, it wins you the game.”