STORRS, Conn. – Sophomore
Denise Solis (Windsor, Conn.) tallied a team-high 11 points as the UMass Lowell women's basketball team fell to No. 3 Connecticut at the Gampel Pavilion, 79-23, on Saturday afternoon. With the loss, the River Hawks fall to 0-2 on the young season, while the Huskies improve to 1-0.
"This year's process brings new challenges," commented head coach
Tom Garrick. "Along with those challenges we played a team who was far better than we were. While we're not happy with our overall effort, we uncovered things we need to work on and advance as a team. Our goal is to improve on those things before we play again."
Solis went 3-for-4 from the line en route to her 11-point performance. Senior
Tiahna Sears (Bunbury, Australia) paced the squad for the second-straight game with six rebounds. Freshman
Sydney Coombs (Newmarket, N.H.) rounded out the River Hawks' defense, picking up five boards.
The Huskies came out strong in the initial minutes, jumping out to a 9-0 edge before sophomore
Kharis Idom (Orlando, Fla.) was able to knock down a shot from outside the arc to put UMass Lowell on the board. UConn used another extended scoring run in the following minutes to create a 19-3 buffer. The River Hawks added four more following a break in the Huskies defense as sophomore
Jaliena Sanchez (Springfield, Mass.) went in for the cross over, but UConn would keep their lead steady to finish out the first quarter, 27-7.
Senior
Linda Svenne (Riga, Latvia) tallied the River Hawks' first free throws of the day to open up the second quarter, but the Huskies responded with a 19-4 run to hold a 48-13 lead over the visitors heading into the break.
After kicking-off the third quarter with a scoring drought at both ends of the court, the Huskies would capitalize on their third run on the day, extending their lead, 58-13, at the 3:42 mark.
The Huskies pushed their lead to 77-15 with 3:59 left in the fourth quarter after outscoring the River Hawks 13-0 to open the fourth. Lowell would make a last-ditch effort as Solis scored seven points over the final two minutes; however, the Huskies would walk away with the victory, 79-23.
Up next, the River Hawks jump into America East Conference competition with a two-game series at Vermont on Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 19-20 (2 p.m.).
