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    UConn Women's Basketball
    Sunday, May 05, 2024

    Huskies making it look easy

    UConn's Kelly Faris (34) intercepts a pass intended for Colgate's Missy Repoli during the first half Wednesday night at the XL Center in Hartford. The No. 1 Huskies rolled to a 101-41 victory.

    Hartford - UConn is looking forward to December and perhaps a test from a few ranked teams.

    November hasn't been a challenge.

    Brianna Banks scored a career-high 20 points and Stefanie Dolson added 18 and the second-ranked Huskies women's basketball team routed Colgate 101-41, keeping the program undefeated in November for the eighth consecutive year.

    Banks hit four of her five shots from 3-point range for UConn (6-0). Kelly Faris also had 17 points, to go along with five rebounds and five assists.

    "Games like this aren't as much fun," Banks said. "If we're up by 30 at halftime, it's just like we're going through plays in practice."

    Jhazmine Lynch led Colgate (2-4) with nine points.

    The Huskies came into the game with an average margin of victory of just over 46 points per game. No team has come within 30 of them this season.

    UConn again dominated down low, outscoring the Raiders 50-2 in the paint. The Huskies have scored 261 points in the post this season, compared to 54 for its opponents.

    "Our guards are driving the ball better, not always taking the jump shot," Dolson said.

    "They're dishing it to whoever is open and I think we're doing well working well with each other."

    UConn led from the start, holding Colgate scoreless for the first 3 minutes, jumping out to a 12-0 lead led by three layups from Dolson, who hit seven of her first eight shots.

    Faris had 15 points before halftime. Dolson and Banks each had 14. A Faris 3-pointer with 7:30 left in the half gave the Huskies their first 20-point lead at 37-15. They led 49-22 at the break.

    "It was a good experience to say, "This is the best, try to compete every possession,"' Colgate coach Nicci Hays Fort said.

    "We competed in maybe 75 percent of the possessions."

    UConn played without sophomore forward Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who suffered a concussion late in Saturday's win over Purdue.

    Mosqueda-Lewis had been UConn's second-leading scorer, averaging over 16 points a game.

    Coach Geno Auriemma said he hopes to have her back for next Monday's matchup with No. 11 Maryland.

    In the meantime, he's happy with the maturation of some of his other players, including Banks, who averaged 3.6 points a game as a freshman.

    "She's shooting the ball with a lot of confidence," he said. "And that has freed her up to just play instead of worry about, 'Should I shoot? Should I not?'"

    The win gives UConn president Susan Herbst some family bragging rights. Herbst's brother, Jeffrey, is Colgate's president and was in Hartford to watch the game with his sister. The two exchanged jerseys at midcourt before the tip.

    Breanna Stewart, who led UConn in scoring in four of the team's first five games, had 12 points and led the Huskies with eight rebounds.

    She came in averaging almost 18 points and just over six rebounds per game.

    UConn has won 45 straight games in the month of November since a 71-65 loss at North Carolina on Nov. 21, 2004.

    The game was just the second at home for the Huskies this season and the first in the 16,000-seat XL Center.

    It starts a four-game homestand, which includes matchups against the Terrapins and No. 6 Penn State next week, games that are expected to be closer than the six the Huskies have had thus far.

    "We have enough players who have played in a lot of games and they know what's coming next Monday and they know what is coming next Thursday," Auriemma said. "They know it's not going to be like it was tonight."

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