UConn women’s basketball won the American Athletic Conference championship on Monday night at Mohegan Sun, formally guaranteeing their return to the NCAA Tournament.
During the game, sophomore Katie Lou Samuelson set a new national record -- Samuelson finished 10 for 10 from the three-point line -- a new NCAA women’s basketball record for consecutive three-point field goals in a game. She scored a tournament-record 40 points as the Huskies won their fourth-straight AAC title.
"I kept shooting it -- felt good -- and I was getting open shots," Samuelson said. "I actually didn’t even know that I made all of my threes today. I could have sworn I missed one."
With the 100-44 win over South Florida for the conference championship, the unbeaten Huskies got an automatic spot in the national tournament.
UConn’s victory was its 107th consecutive win -- a streak that began in November of 2014. After the game, head coach Geno Auriemma credited Samuelson with sparking the Huskies championship effort.
“When Lou gets it going early, it just changes everything for our team because she just has the ability to blow games wide open,” Auriemma said.
Since joining the AAC before the 2013-14 season, the Huskies are 82-0 in conference play. They open their campaign for a fifth-straight national championship in Storrs when the tournament begins on March 17. The NCAA will set the brackets on March 13.
