Hartford, Conn. – The Ladies’ Hoyas basketball team fell 90-49 to the UConn Huskies Sunday afternoon in a Big East Conference game at XL Center. With the loss, Georgetown fell to 7-17 on the season and 2-14 in the conference.
The loss was the seventh straight and 13th in the last 14 games for Georgetown who haven’t won since a 78-62 win over Butler on Jan. 30.
Senior guard Christyn Williams scored 19 points to lead No. 10 UConn to the victory on Sunday, they improved to 19-5 on the season and 13-1 in the Big East.
“It’s so refreshing,” Williams said of the team finally being close to a complete roster again. “Like a breath of fresh air.”
Nika Muhl opened the game with a long 3-pointer, but UConn turned the ball over seven times in the first quarter and trailed 4-3 early. But the Huskies settled down and regained their composure.
The Huskies utilized an 12-0 run to up the score to 20-9 at the end of the first quarter. Georgetown trimmed the lead to nine points before the Huskies used a 19-2 run spearheaded by 17 unanswered points to break the game wide open.
Aaliyah Edwards got the party started and Dorka Juhász along with Fudd were stealing the basketball and converting them into points. Also Fudd had seven points in the opening 10 minutes. UConn held the Hoyas scoreless for almost five minutes in the latter portion of the first half.
After the Huskies 19-2 run, they led 45-19 at the break after forcing 19 turnovers from the Hoyas, including 16 steals.
“It’s validation that when we’re good, we’re really, really good,” coach Geno Auriemma said. “We can be explosive in transition. We can be really good defensively. We can be good in the half court. And now it’s just trying to get 40 minutes out of it.
Mary Clougherty scored 15 points to lead the Hoyas (7-17, 2-14), which has lost their last 31 meetings against the Huskies.
The Hoyas shot 32.1% (17-53) from the field and allowed 56.9% (33-58) shooting by the Huskies.
“I know it’s fun to watch, and it’s definitely fun playing that way,” Williams said. “We are at our best when we are getting out in transition, and everything just flows from there. And we really pick it up on defense as well.”
Caroline Ducharme had a steal and score through contact to push UConn’s lead to 67-29. The freshman’s 3 made it a 70-35 game heading into the fourth and the Huskies cruised the remainder of the game.
The Hoyas was outrebounded by UConn 37-26, and the GU defense forced 21 Husky turnovers.
Freshman Amari DeBerry and sophomore Piath Gabriel converted layups later in the fourth to ensure all 10 available Huskies got on the board. DeBerry’s pair of free throws extended UConn’s lead to a game-high 41 in the final minute.
Freshman Azzi Fudd scored 12 points and sophomore Nika Mühl poured in 11 for the Huskies.
“Games kind of start funny anymore,” Auriemma said. “It’s just like a slog and then everybody gets into it a little bit and it starts to look more like a basketball game. Then after it does that and they’ve done that long enough, they get bored with that and then they go back throwing the ball to whoever’s available, our team, their team, doesn’t matter. Step on any line. Doesn’t matter.”
UP NEXT:
Georgetown returns home to face Villanova on Tuesday night.
UConn plays the second game in a four-game homestand to end the regular season when it hosts Marquette on Wednesday in Hartford.
