UConn women’s basketball beats Butler, 79-39

After a rough start, UConn women‘s basketball out-scored the Butler Bulldogs 42-6 over the next 17 minutes en route to a 79-39 victory at Gampel Pavilion on Saturday.

Aaliyah Edwards led the team with 20 points and also totaled seven rebounds and four assists. Aubrey Griffin and Lou Lopez Sénéchal each added 17 points while Dorka Juhász contributed 13 points.

After committing four turnovers in the first quarter, the Huskies gave the ball away just two times over the next two quarters and finished with 11 on the day — its second-lowest total of the season.

UConn looked to be on its way to an easy victory after it scored two baskets on its first two possessions and took a quick 4-0 lead. Then, the Huskies’ turnover problem emerged as they coughed the ball up four times over the next few minutes and couldn’t buy a basket. Down the other end, Butler caught fire and made five of its next six shots as part of a 13-0 run to take a nine-point lead.

After the first media timeout, UConn regrouped and closed the quarter on a 6-0 spurt. Still, a 4-of-14 shooting effort meant the Huskies trailed 13-10 after 10 minutes.

With the offense scuffling, UConn’s defense got it back in the game. It held the Bulldogs without a basket for over six minutes while forcing nine consecutive misses. That helped the Huskies slowly chip away at the deficit and with 6:55 left in the second quarter, they finally re-took the lead on a pull-up jumper from Griffin in transition.

The offense started humming as UConn ran away with it, missing just three of 14 shots in the second quarter while out-scoring the visitors 26-6 in the second frame to take a 36-19 lead into the locker room.

The Huskies didn’t wait long to put the game away for good. UConn opened the second half on a 10-0 run to push the lead over 20 points for the first time. After that, the Huskies cruised to a 40-point victory.

Next, UConn will have just one day off before returning to Gampel Pavilion to host DePaul on Monday. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET on SNY.