Hartford — UConn senior Evina Westbrook was saying earlier this week that when her team is forced to adjust — which has been often this season — the Huskies are so used to it, it doesn't even faze them anymore.

Then came Wednesday night at the XL Center, senior forward Olivia Nelson-Ododa on the bench not feeling well, and of all the games the UConn women's basketball team played with one hand tied proverbially behind its back this season due to a whole encyclopedia of injuries and other oddities, this was perhaps the Huskies' worst reaction.

At least until it was too late.

Villanova, which came to Hartford with a seven-game winning streak, led from start to finish in a 72-69 Big East Conference victory over eighth-ranked UConn, which snapped the Huskies' 169-game winning streak against conference opponents.

"Well, the statement is pretty simple when you think about it," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said, asked for an opening statement. "I thought except maybe for the last three minutes, four minutes maybe, I don't think we did anything to deserve to win that game. They did everything to deserve that game. They played harder than us, they played smarter than us, they beat us to every loose ball, they rebounded better than us, they made more shots than us.

"So you don't win games just because you show up. You have to go out and actually win the game. Today Villanova came in here and won the game."

UConn's last loss against a league opponent came on March 12, 2013, against Notre Dame (61-59) in the Huskies' previous stint in the Big East. UConn then embarked on a seven-year stay in the American Athletic Conference, finishing its run there without a loss before returning to the Big East a year ago.

Lior Garzon had 19 points and Maddy Siegrist, the reigning Big East Player of the Week after back-to-back 30-point games coming in, finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds for Villanova (16-6, 10-3), as the Wildcats outrebounded UConn 37-21.

Freshman Azzi Fudd had a career-high 29 points for UConn (15-5, 9-1), which was coming off a high-profile victory Sunday over then-No. 7 Tennessee, and senior Christyn Williams had 24 points.

UConn, which trailed by as many as 19 points in the third quarter, made a furious rally to close the game, pulling within two on a layup by Fudd with 9 seconds remaining, but, fouled with 2.1 seconds left, Villanova's Brianna Herlihy made one free throw for the final margin. UConn's Williams lofted a prayer to tie the game at the buzzer.

UConn still trailed by 18 in the fourth quarter, 65-47 with 8:52 to play, before finishing on a 22-7 run.

Things got much more difficult for UConn just before tipoff when it was announced that Westbrook would start in place of the 6-foot-5 Nelson-Ododa, who had graced the starting lineup in every game to this point in the season and 55 straight overall. UConn was also missing freshman Caroline Ducharme for the second straight game with a head injury.

Nelson-Ododa was averaging 10 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds per game in 29.2 minutes per game for the Huskies, as well as leading UConn's current roster with 4.1 assists, 1.9 blocks and 1.5 steals per game.

Without Nelson-Ododa, the Huskies' defense struggled, allowing Villanova to shoot at a 51.8% clip. And the team that matched Tennessee in the rebounding department in Sunday's victory over the Lady Vols? UConn had no one with more than five rebounds (Westbrook), vastly overmatched by Villanova underneath.

"I mean, obviously she's a huge presence in the paint," UConn's Williams said of missing Nelson-Ododa. "But as much adversity as we've had this season with multiple guys out, we have to be able to figure out a way to win regardless if Liv is there or not. Guys just have to step up and fill the gap. We're not going to use that as an excuse."

Villanova led by 15 after a 3-pointer by Garzon that made it 25-10 late in the first quarter. UConn closed the quarter with four straight points on baskets by Williams and Aaliyah Edwards to pull within 25-15 at the end of the quarter and started the second quarter with four more points, two each from Edwards and Fudd, to make it 25-19.

UConn got within five on four occasions in the second quarter, the first time on a 3-pointer by Williams with 7:38 remaining, but things got worse at the 3:35 mark of the second when Edwards picked up a costly third foul, bowling over a defender on the way to the basket. That sent Edwards to the bench.

Fudd converted a three-point play with 1:02 to play to carve the deficit back to five at 39-34, but Villanova ended the quarter on a prayer by Lucy Olsen as the shot clock expired to go into the half leading 41-34.

Siegrist led Villanova with 13 points in the half. Williams had 13 for UConn and Fudd had 10.

To start the third quarter, Siegrist scored on a reverse layup to push the lead back to nine and Edwards followed with her fourth foul. A 3-pointer by Garzon punched the Wildcats back into a double figure lead at 48-37 at the third quarter media timeout with 4:36 to play and Villanova stretched that to 65-47 on another 3 by Garzon early in the fourth.

UConn had won 12 straight games against Villanova.

"You have to be able to score inside and outside, right?" Auriemma said. "You can't just rely on how many jump shots you're going to make that game to win and if you don't make the jump shots, you don't win. You can't just say, 'All right, Azzi, bail us out.' 'Christyn, bail us out.' You need other people to step up and make some plays.

"It was just a bad performance and Villanova played great. That's just another reminder that games have to be won. Games aren't necessarily preordained."

UConn next plays DePaul at 7 p.m. Friday at Gampel Pavilion, with DePaul in second place in the Big East standings at 11-3, two games behind the Huskies in the loss column.

v.fulkerson@theday.com