UConn Women Peaking At The Right Time
Written by Erica Brancato
The UConn women’s basketball team won its first game back on top as the No.1 team in the country. This 85-26 win over Houston also marked their 24th-straight win and their 14th win in the American Athletic Conference.
Though it was an extremely lopsided game, the Huskies were strong on defense as they held the Cougars to 20 percent in field goal shooting. With no Houston players in the double figures, UConn was able to capitalize on offense through their strong defense. Their energy was strong as they were able to capitalize on both the frontcourt and the backcourt.
“Energy is what gets the flow of the game going and if everybody is kind of stagnant or not trying to be excited it’s not going to help out the game a lot,” Moriah Jefferson said. “You really just have to press and I think defense really helps that. If you can get out, get some steals in transition and get the game going and the flow of the game going faster.”
The Huskies were especially powerful on the fast break outpacing the Cougars down the court. With 16 offensive rebounds, 62 points in the paint and 18 fast break points, UConn cruised past Houston’s defense.
“We knew we had a height advantage but at the same time we really wanted to run the floor,” Breanna Stewart said. “Obviously when you run the floor you get a lot of layups.”
Stewart led the Huskies with 26 points, three blocks and four assists in her 26 minutes on the court. She was aggressive right from the start and stayed that way throughout her time on the court. She moved into the No. 14 spot on UConn’s all time scoring list, surpassing Ann Strother.
“I was trying to be more aggressive,” she said. “The last game shots weren’t falling, that kind of thing. But I wanted to get easy shots around the basket and you know it seemed like whenever I cut I was always able to get an open shot or post someone up.”
Along with the dominance on offense, UConn was able to play their second game in a row without bringing their opponent to the free throw line. In both the Houston and Tulane games, UConn committed a mere 13 fouls, yet neither team made it to the free throw line.
Head coach Geno Auriemma constantly stresses the point to not commit fouls and the team has truly responded in these past few games. The discipline and effort is evident as each player was able to show that they could play defense without fouling.
“I think we have a reputation for that,” Auriemma said. “In the end that’s kind of the object of the game. It’s called a foul because it’s not allowed. You want to try to play the game where you don’t do things that are not allowed. It’s not much different than a turnover… our goal every game is to not get into the one and one. I mean that was our goal coming in tonight. That was the goal last game. That’s the goal every game. We are not going to get in the one and one situation where you are just giving points away.”
Reprinted with permission from UConnHuskies.com
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