Houston Cougars crushed by Connecticut, 92-41

Posted: February 23, 2014 -- 6:06 am CST.

HOUSTON, TX (Hofheinz Pavilion) -- The Houston Cougars played hard Saturday afternoon versus the top-ranked and defending NCAA champion Connecticut Huskies; but, as expected, the Huskies proved to be too much for the Cougars in a 92-41 victory for the Huskies in front of a season-high Hofheinz crowd of 1,569 fans.

"They were good," said Houston's interim head coach Wade Scott of the Huskies. "I thought they were good in the second half. The first half I thought they were good. They are playing short-handed right now with some kids that are injured. I know Breanna Stewart gets three fouls in the first half but they’re good, they’re legit."

The game was not over seconds after the opening-tip. In fact, with 9:32 remaining in the first half, the Cougars were within six points (19-13). However, in less than three minutes the lead ballooned to 16 as UConn senior center, Stefanie Dolson, scored eight points during a 10-0 run to increase the lead to 29-13.

The Huskies did not play a stellar first half (six turnovers, six missed free throws and 12 for 25 field goals); but, the Coogs struggled mightily to make shots (6 for 30 field goals) and trailed 40-16 at halftime.

"The first 20 minutes were pointless," said Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma. "It's just another example, another reminder no matter how many plays you make or how many games you play. There’s always going to be days where you can’t get into any sort of rhythm, and you can’t connect with each other. There was no flow to the offense, there was very little going on. The second half was way better. In the first two to three minutes in the second half you could tell it was different, and it carried over to the rest of the game."

Connecticut cranked up the defense to start the second half and forced the Cougars to commit two turnovers in less than one minute which led to a layup by sophomore Moriah Jefferson and split free throws by senior Bria Hartley.

The Cougars' deficit grew to 30 (48-18) at the 17:59 mark. The deficit didn't grew slowly but surely over the next 10 minutes as the Cougars trailed by 39 (74-35) with 6:17 left in the game and 50 (87-37) with 2:35 on the clock.

With the shot clock winding down, Connecticut's Brianna Banks sank a three-point shot to close out the scoring in the 92-41 win for the Huskies.

Houston was led by senior Te'onna Campbell's 15 points (7 for 17 field goals) and sophomore Jessieka Palmer's 12 points (4 for 20 field goals). The Cougars shot 27.4% (17 for 62) from the floor and turned the ball over 18 times. The Cougars finished the game with three assists.

"They are a good team like coach said they're pretty legit," said Palmer. "There’s not too many things that they don't do well' so, playing them is a challenge, but I felt like my team did the best we could."

Connecticut was led by their inside-outside dynamic duo of Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley. Both scored 24 points. Dolson was a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor while Hartley made 8 of her 12 field goals and 7 of 10 foul shots. The Huskies shot 64.0% (32 for 50) from the floor and finished with 20 assists.

The Cougars (5-22 overall, 1-15 in the American Athletic Conference) host Memphis on Saturday (Senior Day), March 1, at 1 p.m.

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