Williams busts out of slump, No. 2 UConn beats Georgetown

WASHINGTON (AP) — Christyn Williams broke out of a slump with 19 points and No. 2 UConn overcame another slow start to beat Georgetown 64-40 on Friday night for its sixth consecutive victory.

Williams was 8 of 19 from the field and sparked a 16-2 run that turned the game around. Her layup midway through the second quarter put the Huskies (16-1, 13-0 Big East) ahead, and they didn’t trail again.

The junior guard from Little Rock, Arkansas, had missed 23 of her previous 27 attempts from the field. She threw the ball away trying to get it to Paige Bueckers at the top of the key and after an early miss shook her head trying to get back on track.

Williams did just that, scoring seven points the rest of the half to take UConn from down one to up eight. She had 13 points in the first half alone and finished with seven rebounds.

Bueckers grimaced while playing 39 minutes on a sprained right ankle. Despite the injury, the standout freshman had 19 points and nine assists, ending a streak of six games scoring at least 20.

Georgetown (1-10, 1-10) lost its ninth in a row. Freshman Kelsey Ransom led the Hoyas with 15 points.

BIG PICTURE

UConn is likely to be No. 1 in the AP Top 25 rankings Monday after a 3-0 week that included an overtime victory against currently top-ranked South Carolina. Coming down from the emotional high of that win, the Huskies shook off sluggish starts to take care of business against Seton Hall and Georgetown and reclaim the No. 1 ranking for the first time since January 2020.

UGLY START

UConn was 4 of 12 with seven turnovers in the first quarter. Georgetown scored 10 off those turnovers. The Huskies still led 13-12 after the first and heated up from there.

“It took us a little while like it normally does to get our offense going,” coach Geno Auriemma said. “This season’s about get the next one and move on.”

ROAD WARRIORS

This was a strong start to UConn’s run of five consecutive road games. The program hasn’t played that many in a row away from home under Auriemma. The last time was 1980, when Auriemma was still in school himself at West Chester University.

DOMINATION

UConn has now beaten Georgetown 30 consecutive times dating to 1993. The Huskies, who beat the Hoyas 72-41 at home last month, are 47-6 in the series.

UP NEXT

UConn: At St. John’s on Tuesday.

Georgetown: Hosts Creighton on Monday.

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More AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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