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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- There wasn't much fanfare as Connecticut
coach Geno Auriemma reached a coaching milestone.
|  | | Illinois' Cindy Dallas, left, looks for a passing lane between UConn's Ashja Jones (15) and Shea Ralph (33). |
Auriemma notched his 400th career victory as the top-ranked
Huskies routed Illinois 97-55 Sunday.
Shea Ralph scored 24 points and Svetlana Abrosimova added 15 for
the Huskies (7-0), with Auriemma sitting his starters most of the
second half.
Auriemma, who is the 30th coach in women's college basketball to
reach 400 wins, said little about the milestone, talking mostly
about the game.
The team's private celebration included a homemade pair of
glasses with the zeros in 400 as eye holes. Players focused on the
game, not their coach, who is now 400-95 at UConn.
"It wasn't a special game for us," Abrosimova kidded, grinning
over at her coach. "We just played. It was a special day for
him."
Illinois (3-5) was a step behind Connecticut chasing down
rebounds and loose balls. The Huskies' pressure defense flustered
the young Illini, who lost their most experienced starter, junior
Allison Curtin, to injury in the first half. She went for X-rays of
her foot and ankle after the game.
Ralph had seven points during a 16-2 Connecticut run in the
first half, which ended with the Huskies ahead 40-15. Leading 45-25
at the half, the Huskies scored the first 10 points of the second
half before Auriemma pulled all five starters for most of the rest
of the game.
"I don't think we had two confident basketball teams on that
floor tonight," Illinois coach Theresa Grentz said.
The loss was the worst ever for the Illini at Assembly Hall, and
the worst in Grentz's six seasons in Champaign.
"It's a mismatch," Auriemma said. "I know that. Theresa knows
that. There's just a different level of talent at this point. We're
not out here to embarrass anybody or make them look bad. We're just
out here to play the best we can."
Grentz said her young team, which starts three freshmen, will be
better for having played the defending national champs.
"They will have had the opportunity to go against the best in
the country," she said. "They'll use that later. They'll know
what to expect."
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ALSO SEE
Womens College Basketball Scoreboard
Connecticut Clubhouse
Illinois Clubhouse
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