SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Bria Hartley scored 17 points, and Stefanie Dolson added 15 to lead No. 1 Connecticut to a 70-49 win over Ohio State on Sunday in the Hall of Fame Classic.
UConn (9-0) was coming off a much-needed seven-day break, having played four games in five days — winning by an average of 49 points. The Huskies had eight games in the first 15 days of the season.
Connecticut got off to a slow start and led 13-10 midway through the first half before finally getting going offensively. Saniya Chong started a 22-7 run to close the half with a 3-pointer. Hartley, Dolson and Banks took over from there, scoring the other 19 points during the burst. The Huskies led 35-17 at the break.
Ohio State (6-3) hung around in the second half and trailed 50-36 with 8:11 left, but got no closer.
Raven Ferguson scored all 14 of her points in the second half to lead the Buckeyes.
Connecticut is in a weird stretch of its schedule. The Huskies host UC Davis on Thursday and then don’t play again because of exams until visiting No. 2 Duke on Dec. 17.
The breaks between games does have some benefit with UConn having only seven healthy scholarship players as Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Morgan Tuck are still working their way back from injuries. Both are expected back in the next few weeks.
This was only the second meeting between the schools. UConn beat Ohio State in 2010 at Madison Square Garden for its 88th straight victory to tie the NCAA record for most consecutive victories, held by the UCLA men’s team. UConn went on to break it.
Ohio State, under first year coach Kevin McGuff, will next play at Maryland on Wednesday in the ACC/Big Ten challenge. McGuff came to the school after spending a few seasons at Washington.
This was the Huskies’ 52nd straight win in a regular-season tournament, dating to 1992 when UConn lost to Vanderbilt.
