The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
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Huskies bounce back, blow out Blue Demons
Death, taxes, UConn bouncing back from defeat.
The third-ranked Huskies responded to their first loss with what, for 30 minutes, was among their most dominant performances of the season, a 100-67 rout of No. 17 DePaul on
Sunday at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
UConn, which lost to No. 19 Arkansas on Thursday, has now gone 1,005 games without back-to-back losses, a streak that dates to 1993.
Six Huskies scored in double figures, led by Christyn Williams’ career-high 29 points. Freshman Paige Bueckers flirted with a tripledouble, contributing 22 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. Evina Westbrook added 12 points and a career-best 14 boards, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Aubrey Griffin and Aaliyah Edwards each scored 10.
“Every player that played had a really good day,” said UConn coach Geno Auriemma, whose team moved to 11-1. “They just did the things that come within the course of the game. Nobody tried to do more, nobody did less. They just did what came within the course of the game.”
DePaul led 22-18 after a first quarter that featured seven lead changes. Neither team was ahead by more than seven (DePaul, 25-18). But UConn heated up to begin the second. The Huskies used a 16-2 run to take command for good, and rolled into halftime ahead 47-33.
Bueckers had a big hand in that turnaround. After managing only a single point in the first, the freshman hit all four of her 3-point attempts in the second and scored 14.
“For me, it’s just staying aggressive no matter how many shots I
miss,” said Bueckers, who finished 8-of-15 from the floor. “My team wants me to be aggressive, Coach wants me to be more aggressive, so just continuing to look for my shot even though I’m missing, I always have to have that mentality.”
UConn stayed hot after halftime. A 16-0 run in the third quarter stretched the lead to a game-high 40. The Huskies finished shooting 57 percent and cracked 100 points for the third time this season.
“I don’t think we start off games in an aggressive type of mindset. We’re more of a wait-and-see (team),” Auriemma said. “But once we got into that groove, once we started playing off each other, I thought it got way better.”
Said Williams: “We got the ball moving more. We just set into our plays. We were aggressive in everything we were doing, so I think everything flowed better offensively.”
Sonya Morris led DePaul (9-4) with 19 points and Lexi Held scored 16.
The Huskies improved to 19-1 all-time against DePaul, including 2-0 this season. The Blue Demons’ lone win in the series was in 1983 — before Auriemma began coaching at UConn.
Since the start of the 199394 season, the Huskies are 66-0 following a loss.
“That’s not something that crossed my mind,” Williams said. “We’re just staying focused and taking it gameby-game. Of course we don’t want to lose two in a row, and unfortunately, we lost against Arkansas, but we got the ‘dub today.
“We don’t really pay attention to the streaks and stuff like, but that’s a cool fact to know.”
Ultimately, Williams thinks the Arkansas game will benefit the Huskies in the long run.
“It struck something in us that we needed,” she said.
UConn will next be in action Wednesday when it hosts St. John’s.
HELLO, SAYLOR
Class of 2021 early enrollee Saylor Poffenbarger made her UConn debut late in the fourth quarter and was 0-for-3 from the floor.
“Paige told her when Saylor got in, ‘Shoot it every time.’ I think Saylor really looks up to Paige, so she shot it every time she touched the ball,” Auriemma said, somewhat sarcastically. “I think if we would’ve played three more minutes, she would’ve had 10 more shots up.
“You’ve got to like the kid, she knows what she is. She’s not shy about it. I’m sure she must’ve been a nervous wreck.”
Added Bueckers: “That’s what she does in practice. She shoots it really, really well. She pulls it from anywhere.”
Note: UConn assistant coach Shea Ralph missed her second straight game due to a family obligation.