With two defenders blocking her path to the basket, redshirt senior Aubrey Griffin tossed the ball over to a wide-open Jana El Alfy. The Egyptian native stepped back behind the arc and paused for a moment before launching a three-pointer.
El Alfy’s fourth-quarter shot hit nothing but the net. The No. 6 UConn women’s basketball team’s bench and their supporters erupted with delight following the 6-foot-5 center’s first career triple.
It was one of 12 that the Huskies made inside Wintrust Arena as they downed the DePaul Blue Demons 84-58.
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The redshirt freshman’s triple was the last one UConn buried Wednesday night; Azzi Fudd made the first nearly two minutes into the game. Fudd nearly scored more points from downtown (12) than she had over her past two contests combined (13). Those four triples alone headlined the Virginia native’s 17-point outing to go with four rebounds and five assists.
With Paige Bueckers held to just eight points on 2-10 shooting, graduate guard Kaitlyn Chen stepped up as the second scorer. Chen had as many points as Fudd did at 17 points, though she was more efficient at a 7-9 clip. Even though she took fewer shots than she did Saturday, the former Princeton Tiger looked much more poised when she released the ball.
“When the ball is not going in, there is a certain mindset that you have to have to keep shooting. … Today, she had a different mindset,” head coach Geno Auriemma commented about Chen. “She was used to having the ball all the time at Princeton; she was the Paige [Bueckers] at Princeton. … Now, she is just being asked to do her part, but that does not mean her part has to be any less.”
Wednesday evening also highlighted the importance of having veteran players who can step up.
“[Fudd and Chen] looked like they were really aggressive right from the start. That carried over, and they just kept at it,” Auriemma said about both graduate guards. “We got a lot of contributions from a lot of people. If you expect to be a good team, you have to be able to do that. … I hope both of them can put together a couple of good weeks.”
Eight-time Big East Freshman of the Week Sarah Strong had as many assists as Chen did. Despite shooting 5-12 for only 11 points, Strong got herself involved everywhere on the court. The three-time Big East Player of the Week blocked two shots, snagged eight boards and collected two steals.
It was more than just the three-ball that was going for Connecticut in the Windy City. Despite allowing a conference foe to shoot better than 40% from the floor for the first time, the Huskies still enforced a tight defense. UConn forced 20 turnovers that they scored 21 points off of, had 12 steals and rejected six shots.
Even with the Huskies’ defensive pressure, DePaul still had a pair of 19-point scorers. Graduate forward Jorie Allen hovered right around her season average at a strong 9-16 clip with two offensive boards to boot. Junior college transfer Taylor Johnson-Matthews, meanwhile, was the only Blue Demon with multiple threes, which she complemented with two steals.
The first of the Cleveland native’s shots from downtown gave DePaul their first and only lead just nine seconds into the game. Shakara McCline doubled the Blue Demons’ lead on the ensuing possession. Nearly a minute passed before Fudd buried a wide-open triple; Chen knotted the game at six with one of her own.
Yet even when the Huskies went up 10 with 1:25 left in the first quarter, DePaul stuck around. Allen countered with a jumper near the three-point line, and a Meg Newman steal turned into an Angelina Smith layup before the buzzer.
UConn did not make a field goal in the first five minutes of the second quarter. Despite their struggles, the Huskies still stayed ahead behind an aggressive defense that allowed just five points. A ferocious block from Bueckers on a breakaway and the ensuing scramble for the loose ball highlighted Connecticut’s defensive efforts.
The Huskies made just three free throws in that span. Once the Princeton transfer buried her second triple right at the halfway point, however, UConn started pulling away. The Huskies made three consecutive three-point attempts that got them back up by double figures.
The last of those triples, which came from the Virginia native, was the last of seven that Connecticut made in the first half. Over the final three minutes, though, the KK Arnold-Ashlynn Shade tandem played extremely pesky. Both sophomores high-fived each other following a jump ball and did so again after the Indiana native closed the half with a floater.
Shade’s layup gave the Huskies a 40-24 halftime advantage; the visitors utilized their hot three-point shooting to stretch their lead up to 20. DePaul used a 5-0 run to pull within 14, but UConn punched back. The two-time Big East Player of the Year, Chen and Strong sparked a 10-0 Huskies run and forced the Blue Demons to call a timeout.
DePaul interim head coach Jill Pizzotti burned her second timeout three minutes later after Connecticut buried two more triples. The top play of a rebound-laden third quarter, however, was one that did not count.
The reigning Big East Freshman of the Year threw up a desperate heave from inside the arc amidst a messy offensive sequence. Shade’s shot miraculously went in, but it left her hands moments after the final buzzer sounded.
That did not stop the Huskies from dropping 19 more points in the final frame. UConn got their 12th triple of the night when El Alfy converted the first of her career with 6:13 left. The Huskies utilized driving layups and free throws the rest of the evening as they breezed past the Blue Demons by 26.
Connecticut starts February at home when the Butler Bulldogs enter the XL Center. Tip-off in Hartford on Sunday afternoon is at 1 p.m. on SNY.
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