The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Huskies roll despite injuries to two starters
UNCASVILLE — It was quite the busy night at Mohegan Sun Arena for UConn sophomore guard Crystal Dangerfield.
Not only did she have her best scoring game in three months as the top-seeded Huskies dispatched No. 9 Tulane 82-56 to punch a ticket in Monday’s American Athletic Conference semifinal against either Cincinnati or Tulsa, but she even provided an injury report to the assembled media following the game.
Dangerfield, who injured her ankle in the third quarter, said not only is she fine but so is All-American forward Gabby Williams, who left the game late in the second quarter after re-aggravating a hip issue that has bothered her for much of her senior season.
Williams laughed when asked if Dangerfield’s medical report on her was accurate.
She did not want to go into specifics about the injury or the play that caused her to leave the game but she did say, “I think everything happens for a reason.”
UConn coach Geno Auriemma isn’t sure if Williams will play in the semifinals, but he doesn’t believe the injury was as serious as it appeared judging by the way Williams limped off the court and her body language when she returned to the bench at the start of the second half.
“She just tweaked it a little bit in the one defensive possession we were in. She could have played if we didn’t have another game for a week maybe, but there is no point in aggravating it a little more,” Auriemma said. “Tomorrow I am sure she will be a little sore. We will know a little more in shootaround and I am sure she will be fine.”
Dangerfield averaged just 5 points per game in the last eight contests she played in as she shot 34 percent from the field and 22.5 percent from 3-point range. Getting a couple of extra days to rest seemed to help her season long battle with shin splints as Dangerfield made all five of her shots in the first half including all four of her 3point attempts.
Perhaps more impressively, after seeing her minutes limited since playing all 40 minutes in a Jan. 15 game at Texas, Dangerfield played 18 minutes in the first half. However, she appeared to injure her ankle while fighting for a rebound with less than 41⁄2 minutes remaining in the third quarter. She jogged back toward the bench, but with the game’s outcome no longer in question, she was not reinserted into the game. She finished with 14 points and four steals.
“I am trying to show ... that I can play on both sides of the ball and it makes me a threat in all aspects of the game,” Dangerfield said about matching her career high for steals. “He wants to see that part of my game grow.
“I was taking what the defense was giving me and being confident in my shot. You have to have shortterm memory and you can’t be dwelling when you miss the last one.”
Katie Lou Samuelson led UConn (30-0) with 21 points, Napheesa Collier had 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Azurá Stevens came off the bench to contribute 15 points and seven rebounds while Kia Nurse had 11 points as UConn posted its 13th straight 30-win season. It is the ninth time UConn has started a season with 30 wins in a row. The Huskies also improved to 99-0 in conference play since the formation of the AAC.
Tulane connected on its first three 3-pointers to stay with the Huskies in the early stages but promptly missed its next 10 shots including four 3-pointers. Dangerfield drained one of her four first-half 3-pointers and then Nurse scored the next seven points as the Huskies scored the final 18 points of the first quarter. The run reached 21-0 on another Dangerfield 3pointer 1:29 into the second quarter to push the lead to 31-9.
The Green Wave didn’t have a player with more than one field goal until Morgan scored with 4:11 left in the first half. Morgan, the all-time leading scorer in American Athletic Conference history, finished her career with 21 points for Tulane (14-17).
ATKINSON FAREWELL
Less than 10 seconds remained when New Haven native and former New Haven Register State Player of the Year Tanaya Atkinson headed to the sidelines for the final time in her brilliant four-year run at Temple.
Atkinson had 14 of her team high 22 points in the fourth quarter but it wasn’t enough for the Owls to spring the upset against UCF.
The tears began to flow when she sat down after finishing her career 1,890 points, 458 offensive rebounds and 1,053 total rebounds.
“It is not crying because we lost but it is crying because of all the good things that we did,” Atkinson said. “I told them in the locker room certain things, you have to get in the gym every single day and you have to want to kill every single workout because you don’t want to feel like this.”