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| Cristyn Williams led the Huskies with 21 points, but it wasn't enough as No. 6 Baylor bested the top-ranked Huskies, 74-58, at the XL Center on Thursday night. |
By Bob Phillips
HARTFORD—Not sure if this
was a preview of the Final Four, or a reboot of the classic film Groundhog Day staring Bill Murray. Tea
Cooper led all scorers with 27 points to lead No. 6 Baylor over top-ranked
UConn, 74-58, before 12,415 fans at the XL Center on Thursday night. The loss
brought the Huskies 98-game home winning streak to a halt—one game short of
tying their own NCAA record of 99, which came to an end on Feb. 19, 2012 vs.
St. John’s.
UConn’s last loss at home came
against Notre Dame in the Big East final on March 12, 2013.
The Huskies led by five points,
18-13, at the first turn, but the Lady Bears stormed back to take a one-point
lead, 35-34, into the locker room at intermission. The Baylor lead grew to
three points, 55-52, at the third turn. While neither team could get into a
groove at the beginning of the fourth period, UConn’s funk last throughout—the Huskies
managed just six points in the final frame.
Which isn’t to say it was a done
deal.
Indeed, neither team was able to find
the bottom of the net through the first four and a half minutes. The Huskies
finally broke the drought and cut their deficit to one when Christyn Williams'banged home a jumper with 6:36 left remaining in the contest, the
Huskies trailed by just one, 55-54. Hope sprung eternal at the XL Center.
However, the Lady Bears—the defending national champions—woke up from their
late-game hibernation, slamming door shut with, a 15-point run and putting the
game on ice. The Huskies didn’t score another basket until Crystal
Dangerfield hit a 3-pointer in the final minute of the game.
By then, of course, the outcome of the contest had already been decided.
Both teams now stand at 12-1 and while the Huskies
will likely fall from their No. 1 perch when the rankings are released later
today, these two teams are well-equipped for a rematch in this year’s Final
Four to be played in New Orleans on April 3 and 5.
“You know, we have a really young team—young in terms of
being able to play in this kind of game,” said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma
after the game. “They don’t know how to play in this kind of game, when you are
counting on them to make shots that other people used to make for them. So we
are kind of immature for them in that way.
“In the fourth quarter we got four stops in a row and it was
a one point game,” continued Coach. “And [we] came out empty handed. It looked
like a shooting drill out there. We had some wide open shots that we missed.”
Auriemma was asked if these two teams meet again in March,
might the result be more positive for the Huskies?
“In the next couple of months that’s the plan,” he said. “You
take what happened today and go, ‘Okay, what [are the] areas that we can’t fix
because that’s who we are, and what areas can we get better at?”
Assuming a March rematch, one of the things need fixing is the
matchup of Baylor’s Nalyssa Smith and Lauren Cox with UConn’s Olivia
Nelson-Ododa and Kyla Irwin. The two Huskies went 0-for-12 from the field and
were outscored by their counterparts from the Lone Star state by the tune of
30-0.
“[That’s] not fixable,” continued Auriemma. “We compensate
by making more threes. In spite of all that it was a one-point game. We knew we
had to make more threes.”
Auriemma said his nteed needed to go 12- or 13-for 26 from
beyond the three-point arc, not 8-for-26 as they did yesterday.
“Olivia will be ready the next time she plays in a game like
this,” said Auriemma. “I know that.”
According to Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey there are six
teams capable of winning the national title, with the Bears and Huskies among
that elite group.
“No, we’re not on the same page as them,” countered Auriemma.
“We don’t have enough. That first half… they made a bunch of threes and that’s
not normally what they do. If they play like that and play the way they played
inside they will be hard to beat.”
Indeed, this wasn't the first time that Baylor ended
one of UConn's streaks. The Lady Bears topped UConn last season, snapping the
Huskies' 126-game regular season winning streak, home and away. The Huskies
were ranked No. 1 last year as well when the teams hooked up, and those two
victories represent the Lady Bears’ only two wins over a No. 1-ranked team.
The Huskies now regroup before heading into conference
play vs. Houston on Saturday. Tip-off at the XL Center will be at 1 p.m., and
for fans not able to attend, the game will be televised on SNY, streamed on
ESPN3 and broadcast on ESPN Radio 97.9. The Bears, meanwhile, head home to host
Oklahoma State on Sunda.
—with staff reports
#uconn / #uconnwbb / @UconnWBB / @UconnHuskies / #BleedBlue /
@BaylorWBB / #Baylor
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