Storm — UConn Women’s Basketball‘s 29-year winning streak was saved, but may have come at a price.
In the first game without star sophomore Azzie Fad (a knee injury that has sidelined her for three to six weeks), the No. 6 Huskies closed their 1,067-game winning streak on Thursday with a 69-64 win over Princeton. Updated score. A two-back loss after losing at Notre Dame on Sunday.
However, the Huskies suffered another potentially serious injury to their starter.
Junior point guard Nika Muhl suffered an apparent head injury in the opening minutes of the third quarter and was immediately escorted to the locker room. She didn’t return to the bench for the remainder of the game, and UConn (7-1) had only seven players left and her one true point she guard.
“The only way to prepare for such a situation is to actually be in it and see how you handle it, and I don’t know if we handled it well,” UConn the coach of Geno Auriemma Said. “We were able to do what we needed to do at that particular time to win the game, which is always a lot. We can’t change the situation we’re in. That’s the way it is.”
Thursday’s win puts Auriema up 77-0 against an opponent (5-3, 0-0 Ivy League) head coached by a former Tigers player or staff led by former Husky standout Carla Verbe. has been improved to The Huskies also improved to his 50-19 all-time against Ivy league opponents and extended his winning streak to his 94-game winning streak against first-time opponents.
But Thursday’s win wasn’t as easy as those records suggest.
The absences of Fudd, Dorka Juhasz (who missed six games in a row with a broken thumb) and then Mule were revealed on Thursday. UConn’s offense lacked energy and sharp shooting without their top scorer and assist machine. The Huskies finished with 27 turnovers (he had 14 in the 4th quarter alone) compared to his 13 turnovers at Princeton, and he scored 10 in the final minute of the game after the Tigers’ late-game surge. I almost lost.
Aubrey Griffin kept UConn alive all night thanks to a career-high 29 points and a double-double with 10 rebounds on 11-of-11 perfect 11 shots (most baskets in one game). alongside former UConn great Rebecca Lobo).
Lou Lopez Senechal, who came out in the final four minutes of the game after “tweaking his legs”, trailed Griffin with 18 points. Amari Debery played a career-high 26 minutes and scored a career-high two steals. But it was freshman Inês Bettencourt who threw her three fouls her shot in her 20 seconds of the game that clinched UConn’s victory.
“For me, Aubrey playing the way she does makes up for everything we didn’t do,” he said. “We challenged her really hard in the huddle and she responded. She responded in perhaps the most important game she’s had since coming to Connecticut.”
UConn took a 15-point lead after holding Princeton scoreless in the second quarter for nearly seven and a half minutes. However, the Huskies struggled to keep pace in such a short rotation.
Shots poured in and the pass went out of bounds. The Huskies did not score his goal in the second quarter, where he shot only 3-of-10 and his 4:50 in the final half of the field. Both teams only scored 17 total points in the second quarter as Princeton shot 16.7% in the frame.
And the Huskies’ rotation got even shorter going into the 3rd quarter.
The Gumpel Pavilion crowd fell silent as Mule lay still on the court. Junior appeared to be punched in the face under the Princeton basket and inadvertently received her knee behind her head from teammate Aaliyah Edwards as she fell to the ground.
Mule was slow to get up and soon held his head. He needed the help of UConn coaches and trainers to sit and stand. She was ushered off the court and into the locker room on her own. Auriemma said Mule was “fine” after the game, but she said the team would know more about it tomorrow.
“We are trying to stay strong,” said Lopez Seneschal. I know it had to be up, and that’s what everyone did.”
With Mule absent (7 assists and 5 points in 23 minutes), UConn are without a veteran point guard on the court, with Lopez Seneschal and Bettencourt taking over ball-handling duties.
But UConn’s problems on the court were just beginning.
Sophomore guard Caroline Ducharme, who started in place of Fudd, sat in the third quarter after being called for the fourth foul.
The Tigers did not gas. Princeton trailed to 64-62 with his 46 seconds remaining and Kaitlynchen scored his two free throws thanks to Debery’s fourth foul of the game.
And in the biggest moment of her young college career, Betencourt’s foot on the foul line at 21 seconds and 2.6 seconds gave UConn the final three points of the game and sealed the win. .
“I felt like I had to believe in myself and I knew I needed it, so I just focused on the rim,” said Bettencourt.
Auriemma added: “Even if she never makes a basket for the rest of her life, she will remember tonight, and my guess is that she made that bucket. I think she made a successful free throw and she’s going to be an even more confident player the next time she does.”
UConn will travel to College Park this weekend to take on No. 20 Maryland on Sunday at 3:00 pm (ABC).
Maggie.Vanoni@hearstmediact.com @maggie_vanoni
