Setting the pace
UConn holds off Villanova, extends lead in Big East
VILLANOVA, P.A. — It wasn't pretty and the game nearly got away from UConn women's basketball.
But he No. 6-ranked Huskies defeated No. 14 Villanova 60-51 Saturday afternoon in front of sold-out crowd. UConn now has a two-win edge over the Wildcats atop the Big East standings. Both teams have just three regular-season games left before the conference tournament next month.
UConn's win saves its streak of 10 years without losing two conference regular-season games.
Aaliyah Edwards recorded her 10th double-double of the year with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Lou Lopez Senechal led UConn with 22 points followed by Dorka Juhasz with 14 points and 10 rebounds (also her 10th double-double of the year). Nika Muhl finished with eight assists.
UConn (24-4, 16-1 Big East) outrebounded the Wildcats 4725 despite giving up 16 points on 21 turnovers.
Villanova (23-5, 14-3) was led by Maddy Siegrist with 21 points and Lucy Olsen with 13.
UConn started with back-toback turnovers within the first minute of Saturday's game.
The Huskies led by as much as nine in the first quarter and shot 64% from the floor compared to Villanova's 44%.
However, the Wildcats began to claw their way back and immediately began their full-court press to start the second quarter.
The physicality was too much for UConn, which had four turnovers in the two minutes of the quarter. Then Muhl got called for back-to-back fouls, totaling three on the Huskies' point guard.
With five minutes left of the half, the Huskies had 10 turnovers and Lopez Senechal joined Muhl in foul trouble with two of her own.
UConn led for nearly 16 minutes before a 3-pointer from Maddie Burke tied the game and
capped a 6-0 Villanova run.
Despite heading into the third quarter with a two-point lead, the Huskies shot just 3 of 14 in the second quarter.
Siegrist tied the game again with a layup at 5:45 in the third. The Villanova star senior was the first player in double figures in the first quarter. Edwards got back UConn back on top 30 seconds later.
Both teams struggled to gets shots to fall in third. With 3:36 remaining in the third quarter, the Huskies were 2 of 6 while Villanova was 3 of 10.
Caroline Ducharme (who returned from a concussion on Wednesday) was UConn's lone sub off the bench. She played nine minutes of the second quarter and six minutes of the third. Her layup at 2:47 in the third sparked a 6-2 UConn run to extend its lead to five. With Ducharme's spark in the third, the Huskies cleaned up their turnover trouble and had just two in the quarter.
Both Muhl and Lopez Senechal entered the fourth quarter with three fouls each.
Yet, the Huskies remained calm.
Lopez Senechal opened the final quarter with a pair of free throws. A little less than a minute later Muhl assisted the grad transfer on a 3-pointer atop the arc to give UConn its biggest lead of the game at 49-39. The Wildcats immediately called timeout with 8:47 left.
After extending its lead to 12, Lopez Senechal was called for her fourth at 6:38. The Wildcats took advantage and went on an 10-0 run to close the deficit to two with less than four minutes remaining after Ducharme took a seat on the bench after getting hit in the stomach. UConn suffered a fourminute scoring drought with four turnovers during that span.
The Wildcats played its full-court press for the game's final two minutes, pressuring UConn to rush its shots.
Edwards was called for her third personal foul with Muhl getting called for her fourth right after. Siegrist made one of two free throws to make it a one-possession game.
Villanova called a timeout with a minute left after Lopez Senechal made a key jumper to put UConn up by five. Lucy Olsen missed a pair of free throws with 46 seconds left to seal UConn's win.
The Huskies return home to Connecticut and will play their final game at the XL Center this season on Tuesday when St. John's comes to Hartford (7 p.m. / SNY).