SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Geno Auriemma finally looked relaxed. He sat on the UConn bench Saturday morning with his arms crossed and his feet out on the court, relaxed as any coach could be during the first game of the postseason.
And why not, now at the first round of the Big East tournament, for the first time in over a month, the Huskies had finished a game before the fourth quarter even started.
But even more celebratory than that, UConn had its full 10-person roster fully available for the first time in five months.
It was the second game all season that the No. 9 ranked Huskies looked stronger than they have in over a month and routed Georgetown, 69-39, at the Mohegan Sun venue in Uncasville, one of their three home sites in Connecticut.
The big addition was the return of sophomore Azzi Fudd, who injured her knee back on Dec. 8at Notre Dame and rode the bench until now after missing the last 21 starts.
The 5-foot-11 sharpshooter entered the game at the 4:15mark of the first quarter, played 17 minutes and contributed 10 points, a pair of rebounds and four assists.
The crowd got to their feet when she drained back-to-back 3s to get up to double-digit scoring and extend the lead to 30-plus in the final minutes of the third quarter.
“Great to her back in there,” Auriemma said regarding Fudd, high school player of the year right after presently-injured teammate Paige Bueckers won it. “She no doubt makes a difference with her skills.”
With her, the No. 1 seeded Huskies (27-5) looked stronger than in over a month, and by halftime were up by 23 points and held the Hoyas to only a dozen points – the fewest points they had allowed any opponent in a half this season.
With four players in double figures, junior Aaliyah Edwards led the way with 19 points, graduate senior Lou Lopez Senchal tossed in 14, graduate senior Durka Juhasz 13, and followed by Fudd.
UConn looked strong on offense, playing smooth and in control. It had limited turnovers this time, with only one in the first quarter as six of the seven Huskies who played scored over the initial 10 minutes.
They used their size in the post to block open shots and were physical with double team, plus they dominated inside with 51 rebounds to only 30 for Georgetown. They also had a 15-6 edge in assists, shot 26-for-68 from the field and made 6-of-24 3s.
And their defense kept the Hoyas hitting on only 12-of- 64 shots, and making only 3-of-27 3s. Georgetown went nearly 10 minutes without a field goal to close out the first quarter. In that span, UConn went on an 8-1 run to take ahold of the lead early on.
It was 17-8 after a quarter. 35-12 at the intermission, 61-31 after three, and the teams played to an 8-8 standoff over the final quarter.
Edwards scored six of the Huskies’ first 11 points and also came away with 13 rebounds for her 12th double-double of the season. The 6-foot-5 Juhasz took down 10 boards for her 12th double-double.
Next comes the Big East semifinals against the winner of the Saturday afternoon No. 4 St. John’s-No. 5 Marquette game on Sunday at 3 p.m.
