UConn women win on Senior Day, 72-35

March got off to a great start for the Connecticut women’s basketball team. The Huskies defeated No. 25 Rutgers, 72-35, to earn a share of the American Athletic Conference regular season championship.

In a game where they never trailed, top-ranked and unbeaten UConn (30-0 overall, 17-0 AAC) used a stifling defense to keep the Scarlet Knights (21-7, 12-5) at bay.  Rutgers was held to a season-low 35 points scored. They played without their leading scorer Kahleah Cooper who missed most of the game with turf toe.

Breanna Stewart and Bria Hartley led the Huskies in scoring. They both scored 20 points each. Stewart and Stefanie Dolson (six points) had 10 rebounds apiece. Kia Stokes pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds off the bench.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis returned to the court after missing four games with a bout of mononucleosis and played 27 minutes and scored seven points. She was a bit rusty making only one three pointers in seven attempts but had three assists.    

Prior to the game, Hartley and Dolson were honored in the senior day festivities. Both All-Americans were also inducted into the Huskies of Honor at Gampel Pavilion.

The Huskies, which have won 36 straight, have started the season 30-0 for the seventh time in program history.  They went on to win the national title five times and went undefeated four times. This is also the ninth straight time UConn has won 30 games in a season and the 18^th time in the last 20 seasons.

During the game, Dolson pulled down her 1,000 career rebound. She became the fifth UConn player to score 1,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds.

No. 1 UConn will visit No. 3 Louisville on Monday night in the final regular season conference game of the season. If the Huskies win, they will capture their first outright American championship and the top seed in next weekend’s conference tournament. If they lose, both teams will be declared co-champions and a coin flip will determine the top seed in the tournament.