UConn women’s basketball handles Seton Hall, 92-65

In its first Big East game in 2,835 days, No. 3 UConn women’s basketball defeated the Seton Hall Pirates, 92-65. The Huskies improve to 2-0 on the season and 1-0 in conference play.

After a slow start, Bueckers ended up with 23 points on 11-14 shooting along with five assists and four rebounds. Aaliyah Edwards totaled 17 points and eight rebounds. Overall, UConn’s freshmen accounted for 48 points — 52 percent of the team’s scoring.

Olivia Nelson-Ododa notched her first double-double of the year with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Christyn Williams surpassed her point total from the season opener (10) in the first quarter with 11 points and finished with 21 points on the night.

The Huskies made 55 percent of its shots (39-71) and held Seton Hall to just 34 percent (23-68) from the floor and 5-28 from three.

Williams started the game with an offensive rebound and putback on the Huskies’ first possession, a 3-pointer on the second and a steal on the ensuing Seton Hall possession.

But UConn’s offense cooled off and went into the first media timeout on a two minutes scoring drought. However, the break sparked the Huskies as they responded with a 13-2 run to build their lead up to 21-8.

The second quarter wasn’t as pretty, though. The pace picked up which caused UConn to rush on offense. The Huskies made more than a few poor decisions and turned the ball over 12 times in the first half.

Defensively, UConn got some help as Seton Hall’s Desiree Elmore found herself in foul trouble in the first half, picking up three fouls. However, the Huskies had no answer for the quickness of Lauren Park-Lane, who scored 19 of the Pirates’ 30 points in the first 20 minutes and 29 of the team’s 65 in the game.

Despite leading by as many as 14 points at one point, UConn went into the break up just 38-30.

At the half, Geno Auriemma told SNY that he wanted to get Bueckers more involved on offense. Bueckers answered the call, scoring 15 of the Huskies’ 33 third quarter points and commanded the offense as a whole.

The freshmen’s performance, along with a 11-point quarter from Nelson-Ododa, helped UConn extend its lead beyond 20 points and put the game away.

With two minutes left, walk-on Autumn Chassion made her debut with the Huskies while Piath Gabriel saw some action as well. Mir McLean did not play in the second half after a five point effort in five first-half minutes.

Next, UConn faces a short turnaround as it returns home and prepares to face the Creighton Bluejays on Thursday, Dec. 17. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. and SNY will broadcast the game.