Right now, the only way to stop the UConn Huskies women's basketball team is to sneak in and put a lid over their basket. And that might not even work because of how tenacious they are on the defensive end.
And oh yeah, they've got Breanna Stewart and the other teams don't.
For the second straight game, Stewart led the Huskies in scoring as they crushed the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 83-57 in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT on Sunday afternoon.
UConn moves to 33-0 on the season while Rutgers falls to 22-9 and will now have to wait eight days to find out if they're NCAA Tournament bound.
All five Huskies starters were in double figures led by Stewart's 22 points and team-high seven rebounds. She also had two blocked shots. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had 19 points with five made threes while Stefanie Dolson had 15 points.
Bria Hartley just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine assists. Her backcourt mate Moriah Jefferson added 10 points and seven assists.
Briyona Canty came off the bench to lead the Scarlet Knights with 16 points. AAC Freshman of the Year Tyler Scaife added 12 points as did Kahleah Cooper. Rachel Hollivay led Rutgers with seven rebounds and had seven points.
If there was any doubt as to who was going to win this game, UConn made sure it was going to be them by playing their finest 20 minutes of basketball this season.
They started out the game with the first 13 points then followed that with a 12-2 run to take a 25-4 lead. Rutgers would cut the lead down to 16 points before the Huskies went on 10-0 run to push to 26.
By the time the first half was over, UConn had hit the half century mark and led by 31 at 50-19.
Rutgers actually outscored UConn in the second half by five points but when you're trailing by 31 at the half, it didn't even matter. If you're looking for a moral victory, Rutgers did lose twice to the Huskies this season by over 40 points each time.
The win by UConn and the win by Louisville in the nightcap sets up the final for Monday night at 7 p.m. And we all know the Cardinals will be out for revenge after falling twice to the Huskies this season.
It should be an interesting and great battle.
Here are the postgame quotes from UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer.
Here are the postgame notes for UConn and Rutgers.
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photo credit: cloe poisson – hartford courant
