NORFOLK, Va. — Up comfortably at the half, it would have been easy for Connecticut to coast to another victory. Instead, Geno Auriemma’s team opened the second half with one of its most impressive runs during the remarkable 73-game win streak.
Leading by 23 at the break, top-seeded UConn scored 21 of the first 23 points of the second half to bury Southern in a 95-39 victory in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Sunday.
“That first five minutes was about as good as I’ve seen us play at any time all season,” Auriemma said. “That’s the kind of basketball we like to see.”
And it only got better.
The Huskies matched their best defensive half in an NCAA Tournament game by holding Southern (23-9) to 10 points on 4-for-30 shooting (13.3 percent) in the second half. The Huskies, who weren’t all that crisp in the first half but were comfortably ahead because of a vast talent advantage, weren’t happy in the locker room at the break, and the Jaguars paid.
“A lot of times with our team, it’s not so much making these huge adjustments and necessarily changing what we do,” said Maya Moore, who scored 21 points. “It’s just the continual pounding and pressure and attack mentality that we put on teams. I think they weren’t ready for it.”
Tina Charles led UConn with 22 points. The senior center made her first nine shots before missing a baseline jumper for the Huskies (34-0), who have won every game during their winning streak by double digits. UConn hasn’t lost since falling to Stanford in the 2008 national semifinals.
The Huskies, who arrived having won their last 10 first-round games by an average of nearly 49 points, led 52-29 at halftime and actually looked pretty sloppy at times. They had 12 turnovers, one more than the Jaguars, but easily dominated in every other category.
“They were just longer, they were taller than us,” Jaguars forward Freda Allen said.
Hannah Kador led the Jaguars with 10 points but shot just 3-for-22.
Southern actually led 2-0 after a short bank shot by Allen, but the Huskies immediately asserted themselves with a 15-2 burst. When consecutive 3-pointers pulled the Jaguars within 20-12, Connecticut got points from seven players in an 18-4 run and coasted.
