UNCONN WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Good news for the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team, they don’t play again until Dec. 18, which is seven days after they suffered their latest misfortune.

With a dismal list of injured players that began against 7th-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. not only did the fired-up Fighting Irish put on an impressive show for the packed house, but the Huskies had more of their players on the sidelines as injuries mounted.

By the time head coach Geno Auriemma, owner of a record 11 national championships, stopped scratching his head and looking for help, he had 5-foot-9 freshman reserve Ines Bettencourt at point guard. This brought a load of turnovers after UConn had already lost starting 5-10junior point guard Nika Muhl when she collided with a Notre Dame player, 6-5 graduate senior forward Dorka Juhasz had a wrist injury four games back and was still out of the lineup, graduate senior Lou Lopez Senechal came to the bench when her foot was stepped on, and worse of all, 5-11 sharpshooting sophomore guard Azzi Fudd’s knee injury three games back, was keeping her out for 3 to 6 weeks.

Result? A 74-60 shellacking from Notre Dame.

Next came Princeton, and the unranked Ivy League team also took advantage of a depleted Huskies lineup. The 5-2 Tigers hung around, never led but kept within double digits, and with 2:30 to go, were within 63-60, but it was UConn 6-1 forward Aubrey Griffin who saved the night, tuning in the game-high 29 points on a remarkable 11-for-11 shooting from the floor, 7-for-7 from the line, eight rebounds and 10 assists. Whew, the Huskies survived 69-64.

But it didn’t stop here, for the trip to 10th-ranked Maryland, whom Auriemma had never lost to in eight starts, 6-3 junior forward Aaluyah Edwards was about all Auriemma had on offense as she hit for 35 points, but the injury-riddled visitors couldn’t keep the Terps from tossing in outside shots, at one time making four straight 3s. But UConn was in control on the boards and cut the lead from 76-65 to 67-all on a steal and layup from 6-2sophomore guard Caroline Ducharme.

It looked good now as it forced Maryland to call back-to-back time outs, but from that it also brought some wild buckets and the home side celebrated a 85-78 hard-fought victory.

Now Auriemma searches for help, hopeful he will have some of the injured players ready to face unranked, 9-1 Florida State Sunday in a noon start at Uncasville Arena in Connecticut, one of three courts UConn calls home. FSU is led by 5-8 freshman Ta’niya Lafson, who is averaging 24.6 points per game, 5.1 boards, and 2.8 assists.

So this is a must win for the Huskies, fortunately they will have home crowd support.

After that, its Big East play that Auriemma has dominated every season. It will be the likes of Seton Hall, a good Crieghton team, Marquette, Butler, Xavier, DePaul, St. John’s, Georgetown, then a non-conference visit to Tennesse followed by Villanova and Providence, and that is when hopefully the Huskies have Fudd back in the lineup on Feb. when No. 1 ranked, undefeated, defending champion South Carolina comes up for the challenge versus UConn in a noon start at XL Center in Hartford, Conn.

Even with these unfortunate disappointing injuries, Gene the genus, currently ranked sixth after getting to No. 3 after wins over Texas, North Carolina State, Duke and Iowa. Now the two losses in these three contests could drop the Huskies lower than No. 6.

Still, when you count all the Big East games and the possible upset of the Gamecocks, UConn could still piece together

a 29-4 overall record depending on the injury recoveries. Muhl should be against the Seminoles, so such Lopez Senechal, so such Ducharme from her back injury and Juhasz from her wrist problems.

The injury list began building before the season when 5-11 junior former Player of the Year Paige Bueckers came away with a playground game torn ACL injury that knocked her out of the season. Also out for the campaign was 6-3 freshman Ice Brady with a torn ACL, then came the Fudd knee, the Muhl concussion, the Juhasz wrist, and the Lopez Senechal foot.

Inexperienced Bettencourt, who did convert 3-of-4 foul shots in the final minute against Princeton, is okay, and more important are the versatile Edwards, Griffin, 6-5 sophomore Amari DeBerry, 6-2 freshman Avanna Patterson, the talented Ducharme, and the important return of Fudd, who was scoring at a 24.7 clip and dishing out seven assists a game. She is at her best from tossing in quick outside shots.

But remember who’s in charge here, for Auriemma has been to 14 straight Final Fours, and has lost back-to-back buzzer baskets in the semifinals. He knows how to get there, but injuries like now are something new. He did give credit to his team after the loss to Maryland, praising the way it came from behind but became a victim of Terps’ key shots in the final minute.