There were multiple streaks on the line during Monday night's UConn Huskies women's basketball game against the Baylor Lady Bears.
You had Baylor's 69 game home winning streak as well UConn's 23 game winning streak. The final piece of the puzzle was UConn having beat their first 17 opponents by double digits.
Baylor's 69 game winning streak fell as UConn survived a second half Lady Bears run to win 66-55 in front of a sold out crowd and nationally televised audience at the Ferrell Center in Waco, TX.
No. 1 UConn improves to 18-0 while No. 7 Baylor falls to 14-2.
Breanna Stewart led the way for the Huskies with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds. Bria Hartley added 17 points while Texas native Moriah Jefferson had 13 points, five assists and four steals.
Stefanie Dolson rounded out the Huskies in double digits with 10 points and seven rebounds.
The nation's leading scorer, Odyssey Sims, was held 12 points below her average but managed to lead all scorers in the game with 20 points. Nina Davis added a double-double of her own with 11 points and 17 rebounds.
Baylor coach Kim Mulkey's daughter, Makenzie Robertson, chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds. It was the first loss at the Ferrell Center for Sims and Robertson.
Neither team was at its best in the first half as UConn led 36-27. Both teams battled a little bit of foul trouble during the half and neither team shot the ball particularly well as Baylor was just 6-of-28 (21.4%) while the Huskies were 11-of-30 (36.7%).
Baylor started off the second half hot as they were 6-of-8 and rallied to cut the lead down to three at 45-42. UConn would increase their lead a few points before Sims three cut it to one at 50-49.
However, Sims wouldn't score the rest of the of the game and the Huskies used a 6-0 run to push their lead back up. The Lady Bears would get the lead back down to three points with 5:12 remaining but would only score two points the rest of the way.
Nobody expected this one to be easy for UConn. We all knew Baylor would give them a good fight. It's good teaching and learning experience for both teams. It also shows them where they are with six weeks or so to go before postseason play starts.
It's obvious UConn still has a few things to work on. But, they also got put into an unfamiliar situation for really the first time this season and showed a lot of resiliency.
That was the final non-conference game for the Huskies who now return to conference play on Sunday. They'll head to the RAC for a 3 p.m. matchup with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
UConn Huskies @ Baylor Lady Bears 1/13/14 box score
Here are the postgame quotes from Baylor and UConn.
For those interested, here are Baylor's postgame notes.
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photo credit: michael mcandrews – hartford courant
