The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
UConn women top South Florida on Senior Night
Seniors saluted as UConn caps 10th unbeaten regular season
STORRS — While the Gampel Pavilion crowd got into their seats a little earlier than usual to pay homage to UConn women’s basketball senior stars Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams, it was more of a case of until we meet again and not farewell to the leaders of the nation’s top-ranked team.
With UConn to host the subregional in the upcoming NCAA tournament, there could be two more games at Gampel for Nurse and Williams. Still, it was quite a send-off as they led the topranked Huskies to a 82-53 win over No. 20 South Florida on Monday night.
The victory enabled Nurse and Williams to help the Huskies post their third consecutive undefeated regular season. It marks the 10th time the Huskies will enter postseason play undefeated.
Williams had 10 points, four assists and two steals in the first quarter and finished with 18 points and eight assists. Nurse ended up with 10 points and four rebounds. They checked out together with 3:34 to play receiving a huge round of applause followed by chants of “thank you seniors.”
Azurá Stevens had 21 points, Katie Lou Samuelson had 14 points and three steals, Napheesa Collier had 11 rebounds and seven points while Crystal Dangerfield finished with eight points.
UConn (29-0, 16-0 in the American Athletic Conference) improved to 141-2 since Nurse and Williams arrived, including a 33-0 mark at Gampel Pavilion. UConn improved to 77-0 against AAC competition during the time Nurse and Williams have been with the Huskies.
Williams, who became the 20th UConn women’s player to be inducted into the Huskies of Honor before the game, had UConn’s first basket just 36 seconds into the contest.
Even with Williams making two of her first three shots, the Huskies got off to a sluggish start offensively missing six of their first nine shots. However, when one of UConn’s nine first-half steals turned into a Nurse layup, it started a run of nine straight made baskets by the Huskies. Three of them came from Samuelson. The Huskies would then have streaks of four and five made baskets in the row later in
the second quarter to take the 50-26 lead at halftime. UConn finished the first half shooting 77 percent inside the 3-point line.
UConn also recognized its senior student managers with four of the five honorees hailing from Connecticut — Wallingford’s Danielle LaButis, Meriden’s Mya Rios, Cheshire’s Rebecca Day and Haddam’s Kyle McCormick — joining Mitchell Simmons from Hartland, Vermont.
UConn is the top seed for the AAC tournament being held at Mohegan Sun Arena beginning on Saturday. UConn will play the third quarterfinal on Sunday at
6:30 p.m. in the quest for a fifth straight AAC tournament title.
Kitija Laksa, who was scoreless the last time the teams played, led the Bulls with 14 points while Maria Jespersen added 12 points and seven rebounds for USF (24-6, 13-3).
Nurse and Williams received honors even before the Senior Night festivities. Nurse was named as one of the five finalists for the Nancy Lieberman Award which is presented annually to the nation’s top point guard. Williams and Katie Lou Samuelson were among 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy.