Huskies Sail to 61-Point Victory Over Albany

Gabby Williams blows past Albany's Mackenzie Trpcic in first-round
action of UConn's 61-point romp on Saturday.

By Bob Phillips

STORRS, Conn. – This one is hardly a surprise. Driven by double-doubles from Napheesa Collier (24 points, 10 rebounds) and Gabby Williams (20 points, 10 boards), the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team topped the University at Albany-SUNY, 116-55, to open their defense of their national championship yesterday morning at Gampel Arena.

Yes, morning. Tip-off was 11 a.m. But anyone who may have thought the early starting time was going to throw the Huskies off—even just a little—got that one wrong. Perhaps of more concern was the four-day layoff after the Huskies cruised to the American Athletic Conference championship last weekend at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Again, no issues.

“We try to keep the same routine,” said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma at the postgame press conference. “It’s not ideal to have to wait that long to play.”

No, not ideal, especially at the crack of dawn (in basketball terms). But this was the first round of the NCAA tournament. That meant this was a 1 vs. 16 match-up. In Storrs. No contest, you say?

Over Early

The game was pretty much over after the first quarter, won by Connecticut 37-18. In reality, the game was over at tip-off, after the Huskies raced out to a 9-0 lead. The Greyhounds managed to cut the UConn lead to five, 10-5 with 6:21 remaining in the opening period, but that was a close as Albany would get. By halftime, the Husky lead had swelled to 58-32. There was no way the Great Danes were getting back into the game.

The four-day break was especially helpful to Kia Nurse, who was sidelined for the last four regular-season games with a stress reaction in her left ankle. Nurse, who was 6-for-7 from beyond the three-point arc, tied Collier for game-high scoring honors with 24, while Crystal Dangerfield added 16 points off the UConn bench. Sophomore sensation Katie Lou Samuelson had a somewhat quiet 15 points for the Huskies, who won their 108th straight game. It was also Connecticut’s 25th straight win in NCAA tournament play.

“The rest of the team is going to feed off of what we do, whether that's positive or negative,” said Williams said. “So, we have to make sure that if we're going to say something we have to being doing it too. And we have to lead by example.”

Imani Tate led Albany, which ends its season at 21-12, with 19 points, while Jessica Fequiere added 16.

“We just play and see what other teams are going to give us each game,” said Samuelson. ''Pheese [Collier] and Gabby were basically unstoppable in the paint, and Kia stepped up really big for us, so we were just doing what we could to feed them.''

Dog Bites

• This was the 24th consecutive first-round victory for the Huskies, who improved to 25-2 in opening round games at The Dance
• The 116 points ties the Huskies’ all-time NCAA Tournament record. Connecticut also put 116 on the board vs. Hampton in 2000. The Huskies record for most points in a single game is 126, set against Providence in 1998.
• It was also the 13th time since 1997 that UConn's first-round margin of victory exceeded the number of points scored by its opponent.
• This was the Huskies’ 37th straight NCAA Tournament win at Gampel Pavilion. They are now 92-9 as a No.1 seed.

—with Staff Reports