Katie Lou hits 2,000
Samuelson surpasses scoring milestone in Huskies’ victory
Katie Lou Samuelson, above right, leads struggling Huskies to victory over USF, scoring her 2,000th career point along the way.
STORRS — With five minutes left in the first quarter, on a day when she would score her 2,000th career point, Katie Lou Samuelson sat in an unfamiliar position.
In a game of oddities that included the entire starting lineup being pulled out of the game, even Samuelson wasn’t playing like herself. Nine points away from a milestone, she watched from the bench as her teammates attempted to regain the lead from USF before the quarter ended and she would be allowed to re-enter the game.
“Sometimes it just doesn’t look right,” coach Geno Auriemma said. “I was saying earlier that it’s gotten to the point where in coaching you just make suggestions. You can’t tell people what you want them to do. You just make a suggestion, and if they want to do it, they do it. If they don’t, they don’t. So I suggested that they sit down.”
Unable to do anything on the court, Samuelson searched for a way to contribute. As the bench players prepared to go back onto the court after a timeout, she huddled them together and made sure they were all on the same page before
giving them a few words of encouragement.
Auriemma put his starters back in the game in the second quarter, with Samuelson leading the Huskies to a 63-46 win over a depleted USF team. Neither the game, nor her play, was what Samuelson expected from Sunday, but it was enough to reach 2,000 points and get a win.
“Lou has had to change her personality a lot to become a more effective leader, and she’s done that,” Auriemma said, noting that her leadership is what he’s most proud of. “It’s not easy to do for these kids today. Very few kids want to stick themselves out there, because once you put your neck out there and say, ‘I’m in charge of this,’ you open yourself up to a lot. I’m proud of her because she’s done that.”
It happened in the third quarter — the achievement that didn’t surprise her coach in the least. In her biggest play of the day, freshman Christyn Williams got a steal and quickly threw the ball down the court to a waiting Samuelson. And just like that, Samuelson was at 2,001 points.
“Lou came here with a reputation of a shooter,” Auriemma said. “We were determined to try to make her into a well-rounded basketball player, so I’m not surprised she scored 2,000 points because she’s always had the ability to make shots.”
Samuelson’s 2,001st point wouldn’t be her last of the day. She scored five more, ending the night with 19 points. Behind Samuelson was Megan Walker with 14 and Napheesa Collier with 12. Both Molly Bent and Kyla Irwin scored six points.
Despite the win and her latest achievement, Samuelson wasn’t happy with the way she — or the team — played against USF.
Auriemma said it was due to immaturity, with his starters thinking they didn’t have to play as hard because the Bulls were without so many key players. The senior isn’t sure what the reason behind their poor play was, but she felt like even after they got taken out they didn’t play up to their standards.
“I think that’s what we need to figure out — what kind of went wrong,” Samuelson said. “Just the look on everyone’s face seemed a little off today, and not like the Cincinnati game at all. I don’t know. It’s our fault not being ready to go from the start, but we got taken out because we didn’t look like we wanted and needed to be on that court. So he made that clear to us and we knew we needed to fix it, but still later in the game we had high moments and really low moments. So we need to make sure we get rid of those low moments; that’s the most important part.”