The SMU women’s basketball team fell to the number one ranked Connecticut Huskies Feb. 24 with a score of 88-41. The Mustangs fall to 12-15 on the season, and 7-9 in conference play.
McKenzie Adams and Gabrielle Wilkins led SMU in scoring, each contributing 10 points, while Alicia Froling added six points of her own. However, Froling’s points came on 2-13 shooting, far below her season average field goal percentage.
UConn thoroughly dominated the second quarter, outscoring the Mustangs 31-9 and increasing their lead to 50-17 going into halftime. In the second half, though, SMU’s strong defensive play significantly decreased UConn’s field goal percentage, bringing it down to 38.2 percent after the team shot over 50 percent in the first half. However, SMU failed to improve their own shooting in the second half, only making nine of 34 shots.
The real difference between the teams appeared to be in the paint and the bench. UConn outscored SMU 50-12 in the paint and were able to rely on their bench to add 26 points, while SMU’s bench only contributed eight points. In addition, UConn was able to add 28 points on turnovers, compared to SMU’s mere four points.
SMU will return to Moody Coliseum for their final home game of the season as they will take on Houston Feb. 27. This will be Coach Rhonda Rompola’s final game at Moody Coliseum as she announced she would retire at the end of the season earlier this week.