UConn women’s basketball stomps Georgetown, 64-40

Paige Bueckers and Christyn Williams led the way as UConn women’s basketball took down Georgetown, 64-40, at McDonough Arena in Washington DC. It was the Huskies’ fifth game in 10 days.

“It’s been a long stretch for us. It’s not been an easy stretch... it’s all catching up to them, we need a couple of days off,” Geno Auriemma said after the game.

The Huskies were up by one after the first quarter and started building out a lead in the back half of the second quarter. They were up eight at the half and kept that pace in the second half to earn a blowout victory and improve to 16-1 on the season, 12-0 in the Big East.

“It took us a little while, like it normally does, to get our offense to function,” Auriemma shared.

Bueckers dropped 19 points on an efficient 6-10 performance from the field. She also went 4-4 from the free-throw line and dished out nine assists to just one turnover. Williams scored 19 points while also grabbing seven rebounds. She hit three threes in the first half and keyed the second-quarter run which gave UConn its first big lead.

“This was Christyn’s best game in a while,” Auriemma said.

Geno only played three reserves until the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Aubrey Griffin came off the bench to score seven points with seven rebounds as the team’s third-leading scorer. Aliyah Edwards and Olivia Nelson-Ododa added six points each, with Nelson-Ododa picking up five rebounds as well.

While the offense struggled early, Auriemma was pleased with his team’s defensive performance. Georgetown shot 31% from the field and 25% from three.

“I thought our defense got better and better and better,” Auriemma said.

“This season’s about getting the next one and move on,” he added, speaking to the hectic nature of this season. He added that Bueckers, who played all but one minute in this game, is still not 100 percent from the ankle injury she suffered against Tennessee. Surely the rest will be critical for the budding star, who is assuming a key role on the team while the Huskies look to find consistency from others on the roster.

After this frenzied stretch of games, the Huskies avoided a letdown after their big win over No. 1 South Carolina. Friday night’s win means UConn should be ranked No. 1 going in their next game. Auriemma said they’ll have the weekend off as well.

Next up, the Huskies will be on the road again on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at St. John’s. The game will be televised on SNY at 6 p.m.