UConn women’s basketball picked up another conference victory Saturday afternoon, defeating the Temple Owls 88-67 in Philadelphia.
Napheesa Collier led the way for the Huskies with a season high 30 points on just 15 field goal attempts. She was 10-15 from the floor, and also added 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. Crystal Dangerfield tied her career high with 24 points, and had 9 assists and 4 rebounds.
UConn started out slow, with just three field goals in the first five minutes. Dangerfield started her strong performance early, with a team high 9 points and 2 assists at the end of the first, to give the Huskies an 11 point lead.
Christyn Williams continued to struggle and picked up two quick fouls, which sent Olivia Nelson-Ododa into the game early. Nelson-Ododa gave the Huskies strong minutes off the bench in the first, scoring 5 points and adding 3 rebounds.
UConn struggled with taking care of the ball in the second quarter, committing six turnovers. The Huskies still ended the half up 42-25, behind a buzzer beater from Dangerfield.
Collier led the way for the Huskies in the first half, with 17 points on 6-7 shooting. Fellow senior Katie Lou Samuelson struggled however, going 0-7 from the floor.
Samuelson finally got on the board in the third quarter, with a much better 3-5 from the floor. However, UConn as a team struggled defensively, getting outscored by Temple 25-24 and allowing the Owls to shoot 67 percent from the floor.
Megan Walker also had a strong second half, finishing the game just a rebound short of a second straight double-double. Three of those rebounds were offensive, contributing to the Huskies’ 16 offensive boards in the game. UConn excelled on the offensive glass, collecting 44 percent of their own misses in the game.
Next, the Huskies will head home and return to action against SMU on Wednesday night at Gampel Pavilion.