UConn women hold Cincinnati scoreless in 2nd quarter, ride 38-0 run to 75-21 win
UConn women’s basketball is no stranger to lopsided scores.
Under Geno Auriemma, the Huskies have won 11 national championships and been to 18 Final Fours. They win often and they win in dominant fashion.
But Monday was something else. UConn was facing Cincinnati in the AAC tournament semifinal round in a matchup between a No. 1 seed and a No. 4 seed.
It did not look like one. It looked more like one of those occasional high school basketball routs that prompts the winning team to apologize for the beatdown it put on its outclassed opponent.
The Huskies earned a trip to the AAC championship game via a 75-21 rout of their conference peers highlighted by a 38-0 run and a scoreless second quarter by the Bearcats.
Yes, that’s right. The Bearcats, who entered the game with a 19-11 record, including a 10-6 conference tally, managed to go an entire quarter without scoring. Cincinnati found itself in a 43-5 hole at halftime and scored just six points in the third.
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It wasn’t until UConn benched its starters in the fourth that the Bearcats managed to reach double figures in a quarter. It still wasn’t enough to avoid the lowest point total by a Division I team this season.
Azura Stevens led the way for UConn with 21 points and 13 rebounds on 10-13 shooting from the field.
“I thought that we rebounded every missed shot,” Auriemma told ESPN after the game. “With Azura in there, we felt like if we could get her going, especially defensively, that would carry over to the other end. We just tried to funnel everything down to her. As it turned out, she did a great job.
“When we play like that, it’s not easy to score against us. I don’t care who you are.”
The Huskies improve to 100-0 in AAC play and will face South Florida for the conference championship.
