Huskies rip Houston
HOUSTON — UConn’s final road trip as a member of the American Athletic Conference produced a pair of oldfashioned blowouts.
Of course it did.
The sixthranked Huskies took control early and never relented, pounding Houston 9240 on Saturday at the Fertitta Center.
They were both balanced and effective as all five starters scored in double figures for the first time this season. Megan Walker had a gamehigh 21 points, including 17 in the first half, and Anna Makurat chipped in 16 for the Huskies, who followed up their 105- 58 rout of Cincinnati with another dominant victory.
“We were just being aggressive,” said point guard Crystal Dangerfield, who finished with 10 points and seven assists. “We were not letting them do what they wanted to do.”
As non- competitive as their meeting in January was — 91- 51 UConn in Hartford — this one might’ve been worse. At times, Houston struggled to even get off a shot, let alone make one. The Cougars played sluggishly, committing 12 of their 20 turnovers in the first quarter. They went almost seven minutes without scoring before Bria Patterson’s jumper halted a 25- 0 UConn run.
“It was a little bit of an extension of Wednesday night,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said, referring to a game in which the Huskies sank a season- high 16 3- pointers. “If you play pretty good defense and you rebound the ball pretty well, you get out in transition a little more, you’re unselfish and you make the next pass, people get open shots.”
After storming into the second quarter up 34- 7, the Huskies stayed hot. Their lead increased to as many as 36 on multiple occasions in the first half, during which they sank nine of their 10 3- pointers and produced 15 steals.
The Huskies ( 25- 3, 15- 0) jumped out to a 55- 20 lead at the break, led by 52 in the second half and coasted to their 135 straight victory in AAC play.
Olivia Nelson- Ododa, who managed only 11 minutes on Wednesday because of an illness, posted 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists, looking reenergized. Christyn Williams contributed 12 points.
“She looked good today,” Auriemma said of NelsonOdoda, a sophomore post. “She was back to the way she’s been for the last month or however long it’s been. It’s really, really nice for our team to see Liv be a huge factor in the game, both on offense and defense, running the floor and making 15- footers.”
He added: “Positive steps, but when Liv feels good, I feel good.”
All 10 players got into the action for the Huskies, who hit 25 wins for the 27th straight year. They will wrap up the regular season Monday against South Florida at the XL Center ( 7 p. m.), looking to keep things rolling.
“We just had a lot of energy,” senior Kyla Irwin said.
“We’re trying to build off that energy and keep it going. Our momentum, we’re just using that as our fuel.”
Tatyana Hill scored 11 points to lead the Cougars, who dropped their sixth straight to fall to 12- 17 ( 5- 9) on the season. They’re 0- 10 all- time against UConn.
Notable: UConn players wore neon green shoelaces as part of the AAC’s “Pow6rful Minds” campaign, launched to increase awareness of mental health issues … UConn has won 209 straight games against unranked opponents dating to 2012 … Dangerfield passed Sue Bird for fifth all- time in assists at UConn with 586.