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UConn women set slew of new records in jaw-dropping NCAA tournament rout

jeff eisenberg
Senior writer
Connecticut’s Megan Walker (3), right, hits a 3-point basket with one minute left in the first half of play to bring UConn to 90 points against Saint Francis (Pa.) during a first-round game in the NCAA women’s college basketball tournament in in Storrs, Conn., Saturday, March 17, 2018. UConn has set the NCAA all-time record for points in a half with 94. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Twelve hours after UMBC authored the biggest upset in men’s NCAA tournament history, along came the UConn women with a reminder that some favorites truly are invincible.

The top-seeded Huskies demolished hopelessly overmatched 16th-seeded Saint Francis (Pa.) 140-52 on Saturday afternoon in a first-round NCAA tournament game.

Saint Francis coach Joe Haigh’s unwillingness to abandon his team’s usual pedal-to-the-metal style of play contributed to the astonishing margin of victory. The Red Flash stubbornly stayed in their trademark full-court press and kept hoisting 3-pointers early in the shot clock even as vastly more talented UConn piled up the points at a record-setting clip.

UConn led by double figures after less than three minutes, by 30 after less than nine minutes and by 36 at the end of the first quarter. The Huskies shot 39 of 53 from the field before halftime en route to a 94-31 lead and a Division I women’s basketball record for points in a half.

The records kept falling in the second half even though the tempo finally slowed and UConn coach Geno Auriemma inserted his reserves into the game. The Huskies’ 140 points established a new school record and shattered the women’s NCAA tournament record set by Alabama in a 121-120 quadruple-overtime victory over Duke in 1995.

About the only record UConn didn’t break was the largest margin of victory for a women’s game involving two Division I teams. Baylor still owns that mark with its 140-32 rout of Winthrop on Dec. 15, 2016.

Senior forward Azura Stevens came off the UConn bench to tally a game-high 26 points and junior forward Napheesa Collier added 25. Four other Huskies players scored at least 15 points for a Huskies team with an embarrassment of riches on its roster.

That UConn could put such a beatdown on a Saint Francis is a reflection of the talent disparity in women’s basketball between the elite teams and Division I’s middle and lower tier. The Red Flash (24-9) swept the regular-season and tournament titles in the Northeast Conference and entered the NCAA tournament in the RPI top 100.

If UConn drew motivation from No. 1 overall seed Virginia’s loss to UMBC in the men’s tournament, the Huskies did it without Auriemma bringing it up.

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Jeff Eisenberg is a college basketball writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!