By Bob Phillips

Photos by Bill Harper

Kia Nurse soars for two of her 11 points vs. Tulane.

UNCASVILLE —To the surprise of no one, the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team

took control of the game early and rolled to an easy 82-56 victory over Tulane in their American Athletic Conference quarterfinal game at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday. Katie Lou Samuelson led five Huskies in double digits with 21 points. Napheesa Collier had 19, Christal Dangerfield put up 14, Kia Nurse had 11, and Azura Stevens scored 15 points off the UConn bench. Tulane’s Kolby Morgan tied Samuelson for game-high honors with 21 points, and Meredeith Schulte added 10 points for the Green Wave.





The Huskies led by just one, 10-9, after Tulane’s Caylah Cruickshank popped in a three-pointer 3:55 into the contest. But the Husky D took over at that point, shutting the Green Wave offense down completely, and opening up a comfortable 28-9 lead after the first quarter.





One could safely assume at that point that Tulane was on life support, and needed an early second-period surge to have any shot against the nation’s top-ranked team. Instead, it was Connecticut that went on a 12-4 run to open the second stanza, and the Huskies went into the locker room with an insurmountable 30-point lead at intermission.





The second half became a mere formality, and indeed, the Huskies appeared to take their foot off the pedal, winning the third period by just one point, and handing the fourth quarter to Tulane by a 16-11 margin—which, of course, was completely meaningless since the Green Wave entered the fourth period facing a 31-point deficit, 71-40.





One of the reasons Connecticut may have let up a bit is that it was playing without two key players. Gabby Williams came down hard late in the first half and limped to the bench. She has been dealing with a sore hip for much of the season, so head coach Geno Auriemma decided to give the 5-11 senior the rest of the game off.





Another injury came late in the third quarter when Crystal Dangerfield hurt her right ankle and limped to the bench. She went into the locker room for treatment.





“I’m fine,” Williams said after the game. “I’m good.” When asked if she could have played if needed, especially if there weren’t two more games to be played in the next two days (assuming a UConn win in the semis), she replied, “No comment. [It was] coach’s decision [to sit out the remainder of the game].





Tulane's Kolby Morgan (3) drives on UConn's Kia Nurse (11) and

Napheesa Collier (24). Morgan led Tulane with 21 points.

“Her hip has been bothering her, obviously, for a long time,” Auriemma said. “She just tweaked it a little bit on the one defensive possession we were in. She could have played if we didn’t have another game for a week, maybe. But there’s no point in aggravating it a little bit more.”





Auriemma was non-committal, but optimistic about Williams’ availability in Monday’s semi-final game against Cincinnati, the tourney’s No. 4 seed. The Bearcats defeated No. 12, Tulsa, in a 66-65 thriller in Sunday’s nightcap.





“I’m sure she’ll be a little bit sore [Monday],” continued Auriemma. “We’ll know at shoot-around and I’m guessing everything will be fine as far as Gabby is concerned.”





The UConn-Cincinnati game will tip-off at 7 p.m. at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The game will be televised live on ESPN2, and is available on the WatchESPN app as well.

—with staff reports