Story By: Andrew Lang
Photos By: Sol Tucker
College Park, MD–
What was billed as the biggest sellout match-up in College Park since the Terps faced Duke and UNC when they were ranked 1 AND 2 respectively back in 2007, tonight the Huskies came into Xfinity Center with a 86 game winning streak that Brenda Frese and her troops hoped to put a stop to, well that Huskies team was just a little too fierce tonight.
Maryland flat out did not shoot well enough to pull this one out. The Terps made 47 percent of their shots in the game, and were at 41 percent through three quarters. They finished the game just 5-of-20 from three; Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Kristen Confroy, their two best threats from deep, were a combined 0-for-7. Against a few other teams this may work in the Big 10, but against a Geno coached UCONN team, this is likely not to work to well.
UCONN’s Katie Lou Samuelson domination of the 2016-17 campaign continued, with 23 points on 8-of-17 shooting. Kia Nurse added 19 and Gabby Williams had 16.
“Everything that happened except us getting up 19, I expected it to happen,” Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said. “Maybe we won this game because, in some way, it’s Connecticut and we’re used to making some of the plays we made tonight.
“When we needed a shot, we got one. When we needed a stop, we got one. When we needed a play, we got one. It came from different spots, and we needed every one of them.”
Five different Huskies scored after the Terps got within five points, and five players finished in double figures.
The Huskies are now three games away from their own all-time record of 90 straight wins. No. 21 South Florida is the only ranked team they’ll see before that record falls; they don’t play No. 6 South Carolina until Feb. 13, when they’ll be going for 100. It’s an incredible run that includes three wins over the Terps.
