UConn Women Dominate, Again

Huskies make easy work of three opponents in three nights.

Don't look now, Connecticut has another record win streak going.

No. 2 UConn won its 89th straight at home Sunday to set an NCAA record, beating Dayton 78-38 behind Freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis' 23 points.

"To go home after every game they play with a `W,' I don't know that that happens very often in very many places," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "I love the consistency of our program, and I like how we approach things every year."

Bria Hartley and Stefanie Dolson each had 11 points and Dolson had seven rebounds for UConn (6-0), which won its three games in the World Vision Classic by an average of over 47 points a game.

Mosqueda-Lewis, who had just two points and missed all eight of her shots against Buffalo on Saturday, hit her first five 3-point shots and had 19 points at intermission.

"(Auriemma) told me to stop being a baby and if I'm missing to keep shooting, it doesn't matter," she said. "I'm not helping this team if I don't shoot."

Hartley gave the Huskies their first 30-point lead with a driving layup that made it 47-16 at the half.

De'Sarea Chambers scored eight points to lead Dayton (3-3), which finished the round-robin tournament 2-1.

The win extended the Huskies Division I record home winning streak and set a new all-time NCAA mark, passing Division III Rust (Miss.) College, which won 88 straight at home from 1982-89. The Huskies set the mark for consecutive wins last year at 90, before being beaten on the road at Stanford.

UConn has not lost at home since Rutgers won the Big East tournament final in 2007.

"Being at home, you have those fans you have that environment around you that you just want to play your best for the fans and coaches," said Dolson. "So it's really exciting to know that."

The NCAA counts UConn's postseason games in Hartford and Storrs as home games.

Connecticut also has won 161 consecutive games against teams outside the Top 25, and 254 games against the unranked at home.

Dayton hit just three of its 23 shots from 3-point range, and two of those came in the last minute of the game.

This was the 16th consecutive in-season tournament the Huskies have won, dating back to December, 1992 when the Huskies lost to Vanderbilt in the Hilton Head Super Shootout. UConn beat Buffalo 90-34 Saturday night, and opened this tournament with a 74-28 win over Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday.

Scores such as that had Auriemma complaining that there are "just not enough good teams, that is the bottom line."

"There's so few great offensive players and if you have a bunch of them, then the games become really lopsided," Auriemma said. "I don't like it. I wish there was something I could do about it. But, I don't know what it is."

Connecticut scored the first 10 points of the game and held Dayton to just three free throws and three shots over the opening five minutes. Olivia Apllewhite broke the drought and cut UConn's lead to 17-5 with a layup.

A 3-pointer by Mosqueda-Lewis from the left baseline gave UConn its first 20-point lead at 33-13. Her first 3-pointer of the second half gave the Huskies a 62-20 lead. She and Hartley each had six rebounds.

Kelly Faris and Tiffany Hayes each scored 10 points for UConn.

This was UConn's first meeting with Dayton. But Flyer's coach Jim Jabir is very familiar with UConn, and was 0-8 against the Huskies during his six years as head coach at Providence.

The game was the 700th of Jabir's career and he now has 340 losses.

Dayton, which was picked to win the Atlantic 10 this season, beat Buffalo in the tournament's first round, 94-74, and defeated Fairleigh Dickinson 84-48 on Saturday.

"I just spent 20 minutes telling our kids that what we saw is what we want to be," said Jabir. "How hard they play, the cuts they make, everything they do, they are in pursuit of excellence every single possession."

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