STORRS, Conn. -- Connecticut landed a big early punch and Louisville could not recover.
Katie Lou Samuelson scored 26 points and the top-ranked Huskies used a first quarter burst to beat No. 4 Louisville 69-58 on Monday night.
Louisville (25-2) scored the first three points and then UConn rattled off 19 consecutive.
"We defended them about as well as we wanted to and that was the plan going in," Auriemma said. "We executed it and that led to a couple easy things. At the other end on offense, we just were really sharp on the offensive end. When you combine those two things. The way we play on defense and executed on offensive end that's how you got what you got."
Napheesa Collier added 14 points and Gabby Williams had 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Huskies (25-0), who won their 76th consecutive home game and ended Louisville's 13-game road winning streak.
Samuelson had seven points during that game-changing run. By the time Jazmine Jones' reverse layup went in just before the end of the first quarter, the Cardinals were down 22-6 much to the delight of the sellout crowd of just over 10,000 fans.
"We had good shots there in the first quarter and we missed," Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. "I thought we took some that were too quick that led to transition for them. That's something you can't do."
It didn't get much better for Louisville in the second quarter as the team trailed 42-22 at the half. Samuelson had 19 points at the break.
"She's got it going right now. She's been like that at practice," Auriemma said. "She just had this feeling and look when I talked to her that today was going to be a really good day for her."
Louisville was only able to get within 11 in the final 20 minutes. Every run the Cardinals tried to make in the second half, Samuelson was there to answer it. She finished short of her season-high 33.
"No team, especially in March is going to give up once halftime hits," Samuelson said. "So, knowing that and if we do get up, knowing how to keep the pressure on and be able to slow the game down, being able to get the right shot is going to be the biggest thing for us to figure out."
Asia Durr missed her first five shots before finishing with 20 points to lead the Cardinals.
TOP 25 MEN
NO. 14 NORTH CAROLINA 83, NOTRE DAME 66
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Theo Pinson scored 14 of his 16 points after halftime to go with 10 rebounds, helping No. 14 North Carolina pull away late to beat Notre Dame 83-66 on Monday night. Joel Berry II added 21 points for the Tar Heels (20-7, 9-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), who closed a tough stretch with their third game in five days. The first two were emotional rivalry wins, the first coming at home against Duke and Saturday’s coming at North Carolina State.
Martinas Geben and John Mooney each scored 18 points for the Fighting Irish (15-11, 5-8).
NO. 20 WEST VIRGINIA 82,
TCU 66
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Teddy Allen scored 16 points, giving No. 20 West Virginia a needed spark off the bench in a victory over TCU on Monday night. James Bolden added 14 points, Daxter Miles Jr. scored 13 and Wes Harris had 11 points for West Virginia (19-7, 8-5 Big 12).
Desmond Bane had 16 points, Vlad Brodziansky added 15 and Kouat Noi scored 12 for TCU (17-9, 5-8).
West Virginia has had trouble holding onto leads throughout the Big 12 season but didn’t let the Horned Frogs come back from a 38-27 halftime deficit.
SWAC MEN
ALCORN STATE 84,
ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 52
A.J. Mosby scored 22 points with 3 rebounds and 4 assists to lead Alcorn State (9-17, 5-8 SWAC) to a victory over the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Dante Sterling had 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Maurice Howard had 14 points coming off the bench. Devon Brewer had 11 points and 8 rebounds for Alcorn State.
Alcorn State shot 57.9 percent (33 of 57) from the floor, including 12 of 22 on three-pointers. Mosby made 4 of 5. Howard made 4 of 7 three-pointers. Alcorn State outrebounded UAPB 40-25, outscoring UAPB 40-22 in the lane. UAPB (9-18, 9-4) was led by Martaveous McKnight, who finished with 29 points. Trent Steen added 14 points. The Golden Lions shot 35.2 percent (19 of 54) from the field, including 6 of 25 on three-pointers.
SWAC WOMEN
ALCORN STATE 76,
ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 58
Alexus Freeman scored 22 points with 5 assists and 4 rebounds to lead Alcorn State to a victory over the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff on Monday night at the Davey L. Whitney Complex in Lorman, Miss.
Tia Sanders had 11 points and 6 assists for Alcorn State, and Miracle Rushing had 9 points and 16 rebounds. Leading 13-12 after the first quarter, Alcorn State (10-14, 6-7 SWAC) outscored UAPB 23-13 in the second quarter. After getting outscored 18-15 in the third quarter, Alcorn State outscored UAPB 25-15 in the final quarter.
Alcorn State shot 41.5 percent (27 of 65) from the floor and made 6 of 14 three-pointers. Alcorn State won despite getting outrebounded 50-35. Alcorn State forced 28 turnovers, had 11 steals and registered 19 points off the turnovers.
UAPB (5-18, 3-10) was led by Malik Muhammad, who had 17 points and three assists. Faith Ohanta had seven points and 13 rebounds.
UAPB shot 34 percent from the floor (18 of 53), including 3 of 14 on three-pointers.
Sports on 02/13/2018