UConn women’s top-ranked basketball team remained undefeated by surviving the challenge of Oklahoma,

By Arnie Leshin

It began like a usual University of Connecticut women’s basketball game. It was quickly 6-0 for the top-ranked, undefeated visitors, and it was once again a huge turnout that came to see the Huskies perform, but the young Oklahoma team had other ideas.

Going with three freshmen and a pair of sophomores, Sooners’ long-time head coach, Sherri Coale, was intent on giving rival head coach Geno Auriemma a tussle. They go way back to when they were assistant coaches, and in 14 meetings, Oklahoma had lost each time.

Sporting a 3-6 record and playing on their home court in Norman, it was sooner than expected when just like that, 5-foot-7 freshman Taylor Robertson scored on a layup to bring her team a 10-8 lead 6:24 into the opening quarter. Auriemma would have liked to shrug it off, except Oklahoma didn’t yield the lead until there was only 3:36 left in the game. It came on a layup by senior Napheesa Collier, who also had the game-high 23 points to go with a career-high 17 rebounds, and UConn finally had the lead and maintained it until the final buzzer of an eye-opening 72-63 struggle.

No doubt, Auriemma, owner of a record 12 national championships and a host of others, must have taken a deep breath after the heavy favorites withstood the challenge. When they met for the national championship in 2002, it wasn’t close, this one was. But Auriemma believes this kind of result will snap his players into reality.

“I told them in the locker room,” he said, “that they live in a fantasy world, that this is the way most of the world lives. Tough games, you have to suck it up. You have to make big plays towards the end. You guys just aren’t in that situation enough because you live in a make-believe world.”

He added that today they lived in the real world, and I was proud of them because they got tested and came out of it with flying colors.

Collier played all 40 minutes and she provided the spark in the final minutes. She tossed in nine points on 4]-for-4 shooting and scrubbed the boards for four rebounds. Throughout the game, she was up and down the court, shooting, rebounding, defending, and paved the way for 24-10 advantage in the fourth quarter,

The Sooner lead grew to a dozen points in the second half. Robertson had a spot in the