Huskies struggle in upset loss to Red Storm
HARTFORD — The Uconn women’s basketball team entered Tuesday night’s game against St. John’s with a chance to secure the top seed in the Big East tournament and at least a share of the regular-season conference championship.
Instead, the No. 4 Huskies suffered a 69-64 loss to the Red Storm at the XL Center, dropping multiple conference games in the same season for the first time since 2013-14. This was also their first loss to St. John’s since February 2012.
“St. John’s from the opening tip played like their life depends on every game for the rest of the season, that they need to win every single game out pretty much to make sure that they are in the NCAA Tournament,” Uconn head coach Geno Auriemma said. “It would have been a sin if they lost that game, to be honest with you, because they played so well and so hard and they played like they were the better team — and they were. ... Against a team that came out (like) we’re entitled to the Big East championship. So each team got what they deserved, 100%.”
Uconn (24-5, 16-2 Big East) struggled on both ends of the floor throughout the night, unable to get buckets or stops at the times it needed them most.
The Huskies shot a season-low 35.3% (22 of 62) from the field and 38.1% (8 of 21) from deep. It was their fifth straight game with fewer than 70 points, the first time that has happened for the program since 1992.
Uconn was outrebounded 42-37, allowing 14 offensive rebounds and 13 second-chance points. The Huskies also allowed St. John’s to score 18 points off their 12 turnovers. And the Red Storm had a 29-3 scoring advantage in bench points.
Kadaja Bailey and Danielle Patterson both scored 20 points for St. John’s, which shot 50% (9 of 18) from 3-point range.
Lou Lopez Sénéchal led Uconn in scoring with 18 points, along with five rebounds and two assists. Aaliyah Edwards had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Dorka Juhász added 14 points, seven rebounds and three blocks while Nika Mühl recorded 13 points, four rebounds and three assists.
The Huskies struggled on offense from the start, missing their first five shots and turning the ball over three times before it got a basket to fall from the field. Shortly after subbing in off the bench, Caroline Ducharme drained a 3-pointer with 5:32 left in the first quarter.
Uconn trailed 21-15 after the first 10 minutes, giving up the most points it had in any first quarter this season.
“Let’s not confuse the issue here,” Auriemma said. “St. John’s played about as well as I’ve seen a team play against us.”
With a little over six minutes left in the second quarter, Mühl fouled St.
John’s guard Jayla Everett as she made a layup. The and-one play put the Red Storm up 27-20 and was also Mühl’s third foul. She went to the bench shortly after, with Auriemma opting to have Ducharme come in and take over ball-handling responsibilities for the rest of the half.
St. John’s got its lead up to nine points before the Huskies went on a 6-0 run in less than a minute. Lopez Sénéchal scored an and-one layup, followed by a 3-pointer from Juhász that trimmed the deficit to 33-30 and got the XL Center crowd back into things with 1:24 left. Juhász came up with a steal and had an emphatic block shortly after, but Uconn couldn’t capitalize.
The Huskies are back on the road to face Depaul this Saturday. The game is set for a 2 p.m. tip-off on Fox.