The undefeated UConn women's basketball team took one step closer to winning a fourth consecutive National Championship Saturday with a record-setting win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs 98-38.
The 60-point margin of victory is the largest in Sweet 16 history, and two-time AP player of the year Breanna Stewart led the way with 22 points and 14 rebounds. The win comes after the Huskies dominated in the second round of the tournament with a 97-51 victory over a ninth seeded Duquesne program.
The win gave the Huskies their 72nd straight victory in the second longest winning streak in Division I basketball history, and their win on Saturday tied Tennessee's record of 21 straight NCAA Tournaments. Head coach Geno Auriemma holds an incredible record of 10-0 in National Championship games and is looking to bring number 11 back to the Storrs campus.
The Huskies squad is led by Stewart, but it is loaded with talented players, as four starters on the Huskies team averaged double digits in scoring during the season. Freshman forward Katie Lou Samuelson stepped up with a big game on Saturday, recording 21 points, three rebounds and three assists.
The women's NCAA Tournament saw its share of upsets on Friday when two one-seeds in Notre Dame and South Carolina fell short in their Sweet 16 matchups. "Crazy things happen in March," Stewart said following the win. "We wanted to make sure when we came out today that wasn't going to happen with us."
"It was an awakening for our players and everyone else," Auriemma said. "If you show up in March and don't bring your 'A' game and your guys aren't focused and locked in and playing their best basketball, that this can happen."
The Huskies entered the tournament as the clear favorites, but they know that they can't take any opponent lightly, as they look to continue to dominate their competition. "Today it felt like I was playing a WNBA team," Mississippi State head coach Vic Schaefer said. "That team right there probably finishes, I don't know what team in the league they can't compete with. They got all the pieces."
The Huskies now await the winner of UCLA and Texas in the Elite Eight, and they will look to punch their ticket to another Final Four, as they seem almost unstoppable.
