Stewart, Nurse Shine in UConn Win

Freshman Kia Nurse added 22 points, a nice bounce-back effort from Friday's loss.

Stanford may have lost in the next game following their upset victory over the Huskies last week, but UConn had no such problems getting back in the win column against Creighton on Sunday. The final score: 96-60 in the home opener at Gampel Pavilion that included a 25-point effort from junior Breanna Stewart.

“I think that we’re three games into the season," Stewart said afterwards. "Yes we lost to Stanford, but that just shows that we need to get better at things, so we’re getting better at things right now and taking it game by game; not really thinking about where we’re going to end up in March but we have a goal of where we want to end up.”

Freshman Kia Nurse, who starred for the Canadian national team this summer, added 22 points, a nice bounce-back effort from Friday's loss.

“Kia was really disappointed after the Stanford game, I mean really disappointed," coach Geno Auriemma said. "She felt like she contributed to the loss in some ways and obviously fouling out bothered her a lot. She did what great competitors do. She came back, put it behind her, and used it as a motivator to play even better than what you would expect. I’m not surprised she did that. She is one tough kid.”

The Huskies have four high-profile freshmen on the roster; along with Nurse there's Gabby Williams (11 points), Sadie Edwards (0 points in four minutes) and Courtney Ekmark (DNP). After Nurse's performance against Creighton, Auriemma was asked about the preparedness of each of his freshmen.

“They all come with different levels of preparedness," he said. "I think Kia has a lot of other qualities, and that’s why I said what I said at media day. I’m not predicting she’s going to be anything down the road. If you ask me which of the freshman looks like they have an upside based on what I have seen up to this point, she has a lot going for her. Is she the same as some of the great guards that we have had here? None of them were that great as freshman.”

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