IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- By the end, Connecticut was looking like a top 10 team in its season opener. It just took a while for the No. 1-ranked Huskies to reach that point.

	UConn's Asjha Jones, left, battles Beatrice Bullock for a rebound.

Avoiding the upset the UConn men's team suffered against Iowa in their opener 10 days ago, the women pulled away in the second half to beat the Hawkeyes 73-45 Sunday. Tamika Williams scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Huskies and Shea Ralph scored 15.

The Connecticut men were ranked No. 1 when they lost to Iowa 70-68 in their opener. The women, while not always sharp, never trailed in beating an Iowa team that made a game of it for a while despite missing its first 20 shots.

"When you play a really good team at home and they're playing really hard, the perception is going to be that we didn't play that well," Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said. "And in the first half, defensively I thought we played really, really well and I thought Iowa played just as well.

"The difference in the game was we have more offensive players than they do. And our offensive players were able to get it going."

Iowa (0-2) did not make a field goal until Cara Consuegra hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 8:37 left in the first half, drawing a loud ovation from the crowd of 3,260. But Connecticut, sloppy in its half-court offense, couldn't put the Hawkeyes away and led only 15-5 before Consuegra connected.

Three times Iowa pulled to within three points, and Connecticut led just 30-22 at halftime. The Huskies asserted themselves in the second half, however, shooting 55 percent and dominating the final 17 minutes.

"In the second half, I think that our depth wasn't what UConn's was," Iowa coach Angie Lee said. "I think we began to wear down. That was pretty much the story."

Ralph, Sue Bird and Svetlana Abrosimova hit 3-pointers and Williams got two baskets inside as Connecticut built its lead to 45-33 with 16 minutes to play. Consuegra's layup and Lindsey Meder's jump shot pulled Iowa to 45-37 with 12:41 remaining, but that was as close as it would get.

Bird hit a jumper and a 3-pointer in a 9-0 run that seemed to take the life out of Iowa and Connecticut went to outscore the Hawkeyes 28-8 over the final 12:12.

"I think one of the main points that we want to do with our game and the players that we have is to run," Ralph said. "I think that will benefit our team. I thought in the second half at points we did wear them down."

Bird finished with 13 points. Abrosimova, a preseason All-American, made only 3 of 11 shots in scoring eight points but contributed seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Consuegra's 13 points led Iowa, which shot 15.6 percent (5-for-32) in the first half and 24 percent for the game. Connecticut heated up after shooting 9-for-29 in the first half.

"We played with them. We did," Consuegra said. "If we made those shots in the beginning, if we hadn't got tired in the second half, we could have played with them. I don't know if we could have won, because they're the number one team in the country, but we could have kept up with them."