HARTFORD, Conn. -- It wasn't the most significant challenge of Connecticut's season but it was the biggest. Literally. Playing an opponent with a size advantage at almost every position, No. 2 Connecticut beat No. 10 Duke 83-52. The win was the eighth in a row for Connecticut in the series, dating back to 2007.
Key stat: Make it two for the price of one with 38 rebounds and seven blocks for the Huskies. Duke entered the game leading the nation in rebounding margin and was fifth in the nation in blocked shots, one spot ahead of Connecticut. But it was the Huskies who had the edge in both categories on this night. Elizabeth WIlliams didn't get Duke's first block until there were a little more than nine minutes remaining and her team trailed by 18 points. Duke's size made life difficult for the Huskies all night -- the home team didn't reach double-digit free throw attempts until late in the second half as driving lanes and post chances failed to materialize -- but it was anything but the decisive advantage it so often is for the ACC team.
Turning point: This section is usually a cut-and-paste effort for Connecticut games. The Huskies make an extended run, break open a game of varying competitiveness to that point and leave an opponent in the dust. Well, after a sloppy start marred by turnovers that propelled Duke to a 6-2 lead, Connecticut turned up the pressure and made a 17-2 run in a little more than four minutes to take a 19-8 lead. Only Duke, to its credit, didn't call it a night. The Blue Devils made their own run and eventually took the lead. But when Saniya Chong snuck up on an unsuspecting Elizabeth Williams, picked her clean and raced to the other end for a layup to reclaim the lead, it kicked off a second Connecticut run -- an aftershock run -- that put the Huskies ahead at the break and set the stage for a 50-26 second-half push.
Key player: Moriah Jefferson followed a prolific statistical effort in a weekend rout of SMU with an even more valuable tactical effort, some early foul trouble notwithstanding, and hit big 3-pointers to stretch the lead in the second half. She finished with 18 points, four assists and five steals. But give the nod to Morgan Tuck, who finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. It wasn't as eye-popping as the 25 points and nine rebounds she put up in a road win at Notre Dame, but she was an active presence in the paint all night for a team that needed her to be just that.
How it was won: Winning the battle of the midfield is usually reserved for soccer games, but Connecticut won Monday's game at least in part because it forced the Blue Devils to spend far too much time on the light-colored part of the court between the darker shaded 3-point arcs. Connecticut's full-court pressure helped force 22 Duke turnovers and fueled 24 points off those turnovers, but it was just as effective in preventing Duke from getting into its offense in time to find Williams in the post. Williams was aggressive early but couldn't get consistent touches.
Felled but fearless: Rankings aside, this has rarely been a competitive game since the Blue Devils beat the Huskies in two consecutive games nearly a decade ago -- the last in Bridgeport, Connecticut -- with a place in the Final Four on the line. And with three freshmen in the starting lineup, there was every reason to suspect Duke was in for another long night. The final score was only a modest improvement, but the game felt competitive into the second half. One big reason? Freshman Azura Stevens, who looked entirely untroubled by the opponent or the surroundings in totaling 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting, including a 3-pointer and some nice finishes off the dribble.
Chasing history: Part of Connecticut's mini-run to close out the first half came courtesy of 3-pointers from Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis -- and it might have been more had a couple of shots that found every part of the rim gone in. Mosqueda-Lewis finished with four 3-pointers and is now three shy of matching Diana Taurasi's program record.
A season after three players reshaped the record book, when Tennessee-Martin's Heather Butler tied former Kansas State guard Laurie Koehn for first all time in 3-pointers and Louisville's Shoni Schimmel, Oklahoma's Aaryn Ellenberg and Penn State's Maggie Lucas finished their college careers Nos. 7, 10 and 11, respectively, both Missouri's Morgan Eye (the active leader with 318) and Mosqueda-Lewis (315) will have a difficult time cracking the newly bolstered top 10. But in the case of Mosqueda-Lewis, being the career leader at a program like Connecticut, and passing the likes of Taurasi and Maya Moore, might be plenty.
What's next: Connecticut will close out the calendar year at East Carolina on Wednesday, its second game in American Athletic Conference play, but a game against St. John's in the Maggie Dixon Classic on Jan. 4 at Madison Square Garden is the most interesting schedule entry in the next couple of weeks. Of course, the real countdown is to the game against No. 1 South Carolina on Feb. 9. Duke will get to lick its wounds with a home game against North Carolina A&T on Jan. 2 before it begins ACC play with Wake Forest and Syracuse at home on Jan. 4 and 8, respectively. January also includes road trips to Florida State and North Carolina.