The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
UConn’s Nurse up to the challenge in defending fellow WNBA prospect Lexie Brown of Duke
ALBANY, N.Y. — Their younger teammates might have provided a few more points and plenty of eyeopening plays but certainly the individual showdown between Duke guard Lexie Brown and Kia Nurse, her UConn counterpart were worth the price of admission for lovers of the old fashioned, in your face brand of basketball.
Nurse, who moved into a tie for fourth on UConn’s career starts list, was taking part in her 145th career game while Brown, who started her career at Maryland, made her 137th and final appearance in UConn’s 72-59 victory in the Albany Regional semifinal on Saturday.
Both players, who figure to hear their names called at some point in the first round at next month’s WNBA Draft, had 10 points and four assists. Nurse committed only one turnovers while Brown had seven of Duke’s 11 steals.
“I think most really good players and playmakers are pretty similar, if you can keep the ball out of their hands as much as possible, they can’t do anything,” Nurse said. “I think we did a pretty good job. It is not going to be a perfect game, she is going to touch the ball at some point and she made some plays there but we did a good job of team defense on her.”
WILLIAMS NAMED GATORADE NATIONAL PLAYER OF YEAR
Call it a clean sweep for UConn signee Christyn Williams who was named the Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year to add to the WBCA, Naismith and Morgan Wootten Awards she previous won.
The 5-foot-11 guard out of Central Arkansas Christian averaged 26.8 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.3 blocked shots. WNBA star Elena Delle Donne made her way to Arkansas to surprise Williams by presenting her with her latest trophy.
Williams capped her high school career with back to back 40-point games, scoring 40 in a win over Pottsville in the Arkansas 4A semifinals and topping that with 42 points and 12 rebounds with a victory over Riverview in the title game.
FAMILIAR FOES
It was a reunion for former Mater Dei High School teammates as UConn junior Katie Lou Samuelson scored 15 points and Duke freshman Jayda Adams finished with five.
“It is awesome to see people you grew up with or you played with getting that opportunity,” Samuelson said. “I think for her, it is a brand new thing. I don’t want to pick on her, it is her first year but it is funny to see how things come full circle.
“There’s a lot of people that have come out of that program who have done amazing things and you can see that there are still people you are going to see still playing in the Sweet 16 or playing however far, it is cool to see because some high schools you only get one or two players who get to go to higher colleges and do well but Mater Dei always seems to produce players every single year.”
Adams credits Samuelson for helping her make the transition to playing for one of the nation’s best high school programs go a little more smoothly.
“She is a great person, I great teammate and just playing with her was always fun,” Adams said. “She has your back and you have her back and it is a great time. She was really awesome, she took me under her wing and she was a great mentor to have.”