STORRS, Conn. — Aubrey Griffin scored 19 of her 29 points in the second half to lead the sixth-ranked UConn women’s basketball team to a 69-64 victory over Princeton on Thursday.
UConn held off a furious rally by Princeton after Huskies starting point guard Nika Muhl was knocked out of the game early in the third quarter after a collision in the paint.
UConn led by two points with 46 seconds when Griffin drove to the basket for a contested layup. Madison St. Rose made it a two-point game again with a short jumper with 30 seconds remaining.
Ines Bettencourt hit one of two from the foul line for UConn to push the lead to three. Kaitlyn Chen missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the game, but Princeton regained possession with 5.2 seconds left. However, Chen stepped out of bounds with 3 seconds to play.
Lou Lopez Senechal had 18 points and Aaliyah Edwards added eight for UConn (6-1).
Grace Stone had 20 points and Chen added 18 for Princeton (5-3).
The game was largely even for the remainder of the quarter once Muhl headed to the locker room, with UConn outscoring Princeton 14-13. Griffin scored six points while Stone hit a pair of 3-pointers for the Tigers.
Four different UConn players scored with Muhl scoring five points during a 12-3 run in the first quarter that turned a one-point Princeton lead into an eight-point Huskies advantage.
The Huskies opened the game by allowing Princeton open shots from the perimeter. After the first media timeout, the Huskies tightened things up on the defensive end. The Tigers finished the half missing 17 of their final 21 shots.
The Huskies began to pull away when they held Princeton without a basket for more than seven minutes in the second half.
In need of a player to provide an offensive spark, Griffin began to drive to the basket. She had seven straight points to put the UConn lead to 15 points.
UConn played without leading scorer Azzi Fudd. Fudd injured her knee in the loss at Notre Dame and is expected to be sidelined for three to six weeks. The Huskies are already without former national player of the year Paige Bueckers, forward Dorka Juhasz and highly touted freshman Ice Brady. Juhasz could be returning to the court soon.
BIG PICTURE
Princeton has three more non-conference games before beginning Ivy League play. The Tigers haven’t dropped a game in the regular season in the Ivy League during the 2019-20 and 2021-22 seasons. The Ivy League called off the 2020-21 season as a result of the global pandemic.
UConn extended its streak of not losing consecutive games since the final two games of the 1992-93 season.
UP NEXT
Princeton: Hosts Delaware on Sunday.
UConn: At No. 20 Maryland on Sunday.
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