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For the first time in a long time, UConn women’s basketball earned a comfortable win by beating the Georgetown Hoyas 69-39 in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals. It’s the Huskies’ first margin of victory larger than 10 points since Jan. 26 at Tennessee.
Azzi Fudd returned after missing the last 15 games with a right knee injury. She played 17 minutes off the bench, finishing with 10 points and four assists. The Huskies didn’t have a complete bench for long, though. In the second quarter, Caroline Ducharme went down with an apparent head injury after colliding with Aaliyah Edwards. She immediately went into the locker room and although she returned to the bench, she sat out the remainder of the game.
Edwards led the way with 19 points and 13 rebounds for her 12th double-double of the season and also set a career-high with four blocks. Dorka Juhász recorded her 11th double-double of the year with 13 points and 10 rebounds while Lou Lopez Sénéchal had 14 points.
Georgetown’s 39 points are the second-fewest UConn’s allowed all season.
From the opening tip, UConn looked better than it had at nearly any point over the last month. The Huskies played with energy, moved the ball well and kept Georgetown off the board. The Hoyas made a pair of field goals in the first three minutes but then managed just three buckets over the next 17 minutes.
UConn struggled to get its shots to fall at first but once they did, it quickly took control. The Huskies closed the first quarter with four straight points then opened the second with six straight as part of a 10-0 run. They went into the locker room with a 35-12 lead — the fewest points they’d allowed in a first half all season.
Georgetown started the third quarter by scoring eight of the first 13 points, but UConn quickly righted the ship. Edwards scored three straight buckets and soon after, Fudd hit her first 3-pointer. She hit another to cap a 7-0 run that pushed the Huskies’ lead over 30 points for the first time and from there, they didn’t look back.
Although it took UConn over six minutes to score in the fourth, it still came away with the 30-point victory to move onto the Big East Tournament semifinals. The Huskies will play the winner of Marquette and St. John’s on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
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