The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
UConn honors its seniors, clinches AAC crown
Huskies honor seniors, then continue AAC reign
STORRS — Batouly Camara promised herself she wouldn’t cry.
But as she walked toward midcourt at Gampel Pavilion, accompanied by her mother, Fanta Kaba, and her former coach, the UConn senior became a bundle of emotions. Tears streamed down her face.
“Definitely, a lot of emotions,” she said. “It’s so special. To kind of think, ‘OK, this chapter is closing,’ and you look back on all the memories, it’s a lot, a lot of emotions.”
Saturday was a day to celebrate and a day to reflect. Camara did both, as did her fellow seniors, who reveled in the excitement of a 66-53 victory over UCF on Senior Day before a sellout crowd of 10,167.
“It’s special. (Your teammates) get to share that day with you, and you also get to share it with your family. I’ve been up here, 16 hours away,” said senior Crystal Dangerfield, a Tennessee native.
The sixth-ranked Huskies clinched their seventh straight American Athletic Conference championship in the process, making the day that much sweeter. They have won 50 conference regular season and tournament titles in 46 seasons.
After a brief pregame ceremony honoring Dangerfield, Camara, Molly Bent, Kyla Irwin and Evelyn Adebayo, UConn coach Geno Auriemma stuck with tradition and started his seniors. They played the first 2 minutes and 31 seconds together, outscoring UCF 2-0 before everyone but Dangerfield was subbed out.
The Huskies jumped out to a 16-4 lead after the first quarter and never trailed, rolling to their 133rd straight victory in AAC play. They improved to 23-3 overall and 13-0 in the AAC this season.
Megan Walker paced UConn with 20 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Anna Makurat had 17 points (all in the second half) and Dangerfield contributed 14.
Olivia Nelson-Ododa added eight points, seven rebounds and five assists, but was injured after
taking a shot to the nose with 8:23 remaining. Nelson-Ododa retreated to the locker room with a towel draped over her face and did not return to the floor. Masseny Kaba was whistled for an intentional foul on the play. The Knights were hit with another one later in the quarter as UConn extended its lead to 58-40.
“She’ll get it looked at, but it doesn’t appear to be broken or anything serious,” Auriemma said. “But we’ll know more after she gets it looked at.”
The Huskies led 28-18 at halftime and by as many as 20 points in the second half. They hit 12 3-pointers and shot 43 percent on the day.
Kaba finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Knights, who dropped to 16-9 and saw their five-game winning streak end. Kay Kay Wright, the team’s leading scorer, added 12 points.
After it was over, Dangerfield acknowledged the crowd, telling them, “I don’t think there’s another place like this in the country. I want to thank you for making this a home for four years. Go Huskies.” The seniors stuck around for a while, posing for pictures with their families.
“I didn’t have enough time to say hi to everybody,” said Irwin, whose friends and family members wore shirts with her name in cursive. “Mainly my immediate family I said hi to and thanked them. I know there was a bunch of them there, which was really awesome.”
Auriemma, now in his 35th season, said he treated the occasion like he always does. For him, it was a time to “look back.”
“You think back to a different time when they were much younger and how much has changed in the time they’ve been here, for them, for their families,” Auriemma said. “The parents of some of the kids were thanking me for letting their kids be part of this, be part of this experience. I’m thanking them for giving us four years of their kids.”
UConn will be back on the road Wednesday to face Cincinnati (7 p.m.).