No. 2 UConn cruises past South Florida as Geno Auriemma pulls within a victory of NCAA record

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Paige Bueckers scored 19 of her 22 points in the first half as No. 2 UConn rolled to an 86-49 win over former conference rival South Florida on Sunday.

The win was No. 1215 for UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma. That leaves him one shy of tying former Stanford women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer’s college basketball record.

Bueckers big opening 20 minutes helped the Huskies to a 43-25 lead at halftime. Ice Brady had the first four points for the Huskies as UConn opened the game on a 9-0 run.

Ashlynn Shade had 10 of UConn’s 30 points in the third quarter as the Huskies (2-0) never trailed in the game. Shade finished with 15 points and Sarah Strong added 13 points for the Huskies.

Mama Dembele had 12 points and Sammie Puisis added 10 points for South Florida (2-1).

Takeaways

South Florida: The Bulls’ top two scores in the game began their collegiate careers in either the ACC or the SEC. Dembele, a Missouri transfer, had eight of her 12 points in the first half. Puisis, a Florida State transfer in her third season at USF, had seven of her 10 points in the opening half.

UConn: Auriemma has picked up 34 of his wins against South Florida as the Bulls have never beaten the Huskies.

Key moment

With UConn leading by six points, Bueckers had four points and four different players had baskets in an 11-0 run for the Huskies. Kaitlyn Chen had two points and two assists during that stretch.

Key stat

UConn missed back-to-back shots just once in the first three quarters as the Huskies led 73-39 after three quarters after beating South Florida by just seven points in the most recent meeting in the 2021 Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.

Up next

South Florida plays at home against Vanderbilt on Thursday. UConn North Carolina on Friday in Greensboro, N.C.

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