ORLANDO, Fla. – Playing the No. 1 UConn Huskies was always going to be a difficult task, but the UCF Knights played them as well as any team has all season.
It was an unusually low-scoring game for UConn, who averages the most points per game in the country (89.7). Both teams were held to their season-low in points, as UConn (23-0, 11-0 in American Athletic Conference) beat UCF 55-37 at CFE Arena Wednesday night.
“The grit, the determination, the fight. I mean, big picture, we’re raising them to be, you know, strong, empowered women and to fight, you know,” UCF head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said after the loss. “I just never want them to quit, no matter what the score is. I want ’em to fight through the whole game for 40 minutes ’cause you just never know what’s going to happen.”
UCF (16-8, 8-3 in AAC) fell to an early, insurmountable deficit, trailing 21-4 after the first and 37-12 at halftime. But in the final two quarters, UCF did what few teams, if any, have done all season: out-score UConn in the second half.
The Knights out-scored UConn 25-18 in the second half, 17-7 in the fourth. UConn’s 36 points in the first half were also the third-fewest total the Huskies have scored at halftime. The then-No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and UCF, in its first meeting with UConn, have held the Huskies to fewer points at halftime.
“We were on our way to getting 80, and something happened along the way,” UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said after the game. “As I said, you have to be able to experience every different kind of game that you can, and that’s why games like this are actually pretty good for you. Not every team’s gonna let you get 50 at halftime…”
UConn opened the final period with five points within the first two minutes but were held scoreless until 53 seconds remained on the clock. Zakiya Saunders, Jamesha Paul and Korneila Wright each had two field goals in the fourth.
Saunders led the Knights with 13 points on 5-for-18 shooting. Wright was second in scoring with 12 points on 5-for-15. UCF took an unusually high amount of 3s, too, going 0-for-11 from deep. Nyala Shuler took the most long-range attempts, going 0-for-5.
Katie Lou Samuelson led the Huskies with a game-high 19 points on 6-for-12 shooting, including 4-for-9 from 3-point range. She added 6 boards and 5 assists.
Who’s Next?
The Knights travel to play Temple University on Saturday at 2 p.m. Temple is third from the bottom in the AAC, having won just two conference games.
For more on the Knights, as they take to the road for one game, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
To contact Victor, you can email him at vtan@newdayreview.com.
