Hartford — Geno Auriemma had a theory on how to prepare for Wednesday's game against No. 16 DePaul, the first ranked team the UConn women have played this season and an opponent that enjoys creating a little bit of chaos.

"Pray," Auriemma, the UConn coach, deadpanned, although he might not have exactly been kidding.

"The last couple days in practice ... you can't simulate what they do. You tell them, 'You four guys go trap her.' They say, 'Who does that?' 'They do.' They just want you to hurry up. They're impossible to prepare for."

Playing the game before "The Game" — Sunday's matchup at No. 1 Notre Dame, a rematch of last year's national semifinal won by Notre Dame — No. 2 UConn did quite well, winning 99-63 before a crowd of 7,186 at the XL Center following a 28-point lead at halftime.

The Huskies leave for South Bend, Ind., feeling unencumbered, according to Auriemma.

"We don't have win streaks or rankings and any of that stuff," he said.

But first there was the matter of DePaul, coached by longtime Auriemma friend and Olympic assistant coach Doug Bruno, whom Auriemma called "Mr. Chicago" after the home town of Bruno and DePaul.

UConn led 16-15 in the first quarter after a 3-pointer by DePaul's Tanita Allen before Napheesa Collier grabbed an offensive rebound off her own missed 3-pointer and charged to the basket for a layup. That was the beginning of a 24-0 UConn run which did not end until the Huskies (6-0) led 40-15 on a fast break layup by freshman Christyn Williams in the second quarter.

Collier finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for UConn and Katie Lou Samuelson had 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Williams had 15 points, Megan Walker 13 and Crystal Dangerfield 12 points, seven assists and three steals, pushing the entire starting lineup into double figures.

DePaul, playing its fifth game in seven days, fell to 5-3, with all three losses to ranked opponents (Notre Dame, No. 12 Syracuse in overtime and UConn).

"They like to shoot a lot of 3s," Samuelson said of preparing for DePaul. "We tried to make sure each one was contested. ... No. I actually don't think there was any of that (looking ahead to Notre Dame) at all. We worked at practice on DePaul specifically. We were all prepared for this game. They play in a way that's challenging to defend sometimes.

"We worked on their press. We put six people (on the court) to get used to their press."

DePaul cut the lead to 17 over the first 5 minutes, 6 seconds of the third quarter, getting 3-pointers during from Sonya Morris, Kelly Campbell and two from Ashton Millender.

UConn led 61-43 on a 3 by Millender when Samuelson had a ball crunched back into her face by a defender, resulting in a no call by the officials. That, then, resulted in a technical foul on Auriemma and Campbell made one of two free throws to pull the Blue Demons within 61-44, with the crowd hailing her with boos as she stood at the line.

Auriemma called DePaul's third-quarter run immature on his team's part.

"When Doug coaches his team, they're not going stop," Auriemma said. "They put up (19) points in the first five minutes of the third quarter."

Bruno, meanwhile, expressed frustration that his team can't match up more consistently with UConn. The Huskies are 15-1 all-time against DePaul with 15 straight victories.

DePaul, the five-time defending Big East Conference regular-season champion, was coming off a 124-61 victory over Savannah State in which the Blue Demons set program records for points and 3-pointers (22) in a game.

"Just another tough night here," Bruno said. "I know they're big and long and strong ... there are still some basic things I wish we could take care of. I don't know what I can do to get my players to be consistently competitive.

"That's what bothers me."

v.fulkerson@theday.com