KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The modern era of the greatest rivalry in women’s college basketball is firmly in the hands of one side.
The No. 5 UConn Huskies defeated the Tennessee Volunteers, 84-67, in chippy affair at Thompson-Boling Arena Thursday night, securing their fourth consecutive victory since the series was renewed in 2019-20.
The Huskies are now 17-9 all time against the Lady Volunteers, with their last loss coming on Jan. 6, 2007.
Both teams entered on win streaks of at least nine games, but only UConn would emerge with its intact. The Huskies have now won 12 in a row.
Lou Lopez Sénéchal led UConn with a season-high 26 points. Aaliyah Edwards was right behind her with 25 points, along with seven rebounds and four assists. Dorka Juhász added 13 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Aubrey Griffin notched 13 points and six rebounds. Nika Mühl dished out 14 assists and also finished with seven points, four rebounds and four steals.
There was plenty of buzz and excitement around the Thursday night matchup. Fans began filing into the stands well over two hours before tip-off and there was a special College GameDay show an hour before the game began. Head coach Geno Auriemma was met with a loud reception of boos from the crowd when he walked out onto the court to shake hands with Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper.
The Huskies controlled this one early behind a red-hot offense. Starting with a 3-pointer from Nika Mühl, they would go on to shoot 15 of 21 (71.4%) from the field in the opening frame. They led 33-17 at the end of the first, scoring their most points in a quarter all season.
The script completely flipped from the first quarter to the second as the Huskies went from not being able to miss to not being able to score. They turned the ball over or missed on each of their first seven possessions, until Lopez Sénéchal finally got one to fall with 6:45 left.
UConn still led 35-21 at that point, but that lead would quickly dissipate. With 3:40 left, Jordan Horston drained a 3-pointer to make it a single-digit game. Shortly after, Lopez Sénéchal was called for her third foul as Tennessee drew its third offensive charge of the second quarter. She subbed out after that.
Less than a minute later, Edwards had her shot blocked by Hortston. Another foul called on the Huskies led to Jillian Hollingshead scoring two points at the line. Shortly after, Hollingshead grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back — one of 20 second-chance points for the Vols on the night. The crowd at Thompson-Boling Arena went nuts, with Tennessee on a 7-0 run to trim it to 40-35 and force a UConn timeout with 1:47 left.
The Huskies went scoreless for nearly four minutes entering halftime, at which point they were only up 40-36 after leading by 16 points after one. They were outscored 19-7 in the second quarter and shot just 27.3% from the field while committing seven turnovers.
Auriemma was frustrated by the officiating in his halftime interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “This is what you get when you come down here,” he said. “The game was called one way then it changed. Nothing else changed. We didn’t change.”
The officiating woes continued to start the second half as Mühl was called for an offensive foul early. Horston then scored on the other end of the floor to trim UConn’s lead to 40-38. Many more questionable charges would continue to be called on both sides.
The Huskies eventually went on a 7-0 run in less than a minute and a half to regain the lead. Lopez Sénéchal scored a 3-pointer, sandwiched by baskets from Edwards, to give UConn a 50-41 lead with 6:30 left in the third. Lopez Sénéchal drained another triple with less than two minutes later to put the Huskies back up double digits, up by 11 points.
The officiating continued to play a huge factor throughout the rest of the third as tension rose on the court, the rivalry still alive and well. There were 15 fouls called as the period — 10 on Tennessee and five on UConn — lasted over 30 minutes in what became a chippy, defensive game full of video reviews. UConn led 68-55 entering the final quarter.
Horston stole the ball from Mühl and scored a layup on the other end to open the fourth. The 6-foot-2 guard seemed to have a response whenever Tennessee needed it throughout the night. Right after Lopez Sénéchal scored a 3-pointer with 6:38 left to give UConn a 77-61 lead, Horston made a jumper on the other end to cut into it. She would go on to finish with 27 points and seven rebounds off the bench, but it wouldn’t be enough.
With 3:31 left, Juhász knocked down a 3-pointer off of an assist from Mühl to put UConn up 17 points. By the time Auriemma called timeout with 2:57 left, fans were emptying the stands and heading to the exits.
