Final Score: UConn Women’s Basketball Pushes Past No. 12 Ohio State, 82-63

Another day, another double-digit win for the Huskies over a ranked opponent.

By Daniel Connolly@DanielVConnolly Dec 19, 2016, 11:35pm EST

Napheesa Collier puts up two of her game-high 27 points.

After an eight-day break for finals, the UConn women’s hoops team returned to action, coming away with a convincing win over the No. 12 Ohio State Buckeyes, 82-63 at the XL Center.

It took the Huskies a little while to find the hoop, throwing up a pair of airballs before finding their groove and jumping out to a 10-2 lead. UConn opened with a fast attack, utilizing the long pass to push the ball up-court at an electric pace.

Despite running so much early on, the Huskies only used their five starters in the first quarter while Ohio State used 10. After UConn took a 12-point lead, the Buckeyes finished the quarter strong with a 9-0 run, capped off by a deep three-pointer by Kelsey Mitchell at the buzzer.

In the second quarter, UConn used a 12-2 run to rebuild the lead but much like the first quarter, Ohio State went on another run to get within six going into the half. The Buckeyes were carried by Kelsey Mitchell, who scored 19 of the team’s 34 first-half points.

But Mitchell was held to just four points in the second half as Ohio State struggled to keep up with the high-powered UConn offense. Katie Lou Samuelson quickly scored eight points out of the break, helping the Huskies pull away. Napheesa Collier delivered the knockout blow by scoring 15 of the team’s 30 points in the third quarter and the Buckeyes could never recover as the Huskies came away with a 19-point victory.

Despite coming in averaging over 90 points-per-game, Ohio State never found a rhythm on offense. The Buckeyes relied too heavily on Mitchell to score and their offense tried to exploit 1-on-1 matchups too often without success.

With Saniya Chong out due to concussion-like symptoms, Geno Auriemma only used six players all night, with Kia Nurse and Katie Lou Samuelson only coming out with a minute-and-a-half left in the game.

Sameulson recovered from a cold start to finish with 26 points, going 5-of-12 from three. The sophomore has scored 200 points on the season in just 10 games, joining the elite company of Maya Moore, Kerry Boscom, Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart as Huskies to reach that feat.

Napheesa Collier inched-out Samuelson with a team-high 27 points while also grabbing 11 boards. Gabby Williams had a relatively quiet night given her recently explosive numbers, but still led the team in rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals.

With every double-digit win over ranked opponents, UConn seems to be distancing itself further from the rest of the competition. Since the season opener against Florida State, the Huskies have won every game by more than 10 points, which is unbelievable considering it came against five ranked teams, including the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country.

At this point, we’ve seen enough to know that this team is for real. Their lack of depth is going to come back to haunt them at some point, but when their starting five is on the floor together, there is not a single team in the country that can beat them.

Photos: