STORRS, Conn. -- Sometimes girls just want to have fun. And for Kia Nurse, Saturday was a blast.
Bopping along to the tunes blaring from the speakers during warm-ups, the smiling Nurse even sang a few bars to Justin Bieber's hit, "Sorry," before draining a jumper.
"I sing every warm-up song," a relaxed Nurse laughed after the game. "When Biebs comes on, I add my own little riffs to it like I do in the shower. It gets me going."
Coming in loose was intentional for the sophomore guard, who was determined to rebound from a scoreless performance against Tulane earlier this week. "I put a lot of emphasis and pressure on myself and sometimes that backfires on me," Nurse said. "When I don't overthink it, I always play better."
Nurse certainly bounced back well. The 5-foot-11 guard led the Huskies in scoring through the first half, shooting 8 of 10 from the field and hitting three shots from beyond the arc. She never slowed down, finishing the game with 20 points and shooting 73 percent from the field.
But Nurse wasn't alone. She got a lot of help from teammates en route to a 92-46 Huskies victory over visiting East Carolina.
It was all UConn from the tip, as it opened the game with a 14-0 run. On the first four possessions, three different Huskies scored. Breanna Stewart finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, and point guard Moriah Jefferson contributed 16 points and eight assists.
"It starts on defense for us," Jefferson said of the Huskies' performance. "If we get stops, then shots are going to fall and we'll keep pressuring them and the turnovers will come."
And that's exactly what happened.
The overmatched Pirates struggled from the jump, not getting on the board until nearly four minutes into the game. Turnovers plagued the Pirates throughout. They had 13 in the first half and ended with 24, including a handful of shot-clock violations.
East Carolina's leading scorers, Jada Payne, and I'Tiana Taylor exposed a few gaps in the Huskies' defense en route to netting 15 and 12 points, respectively, but failed to really get going in the first half. Payne was hampered by the shadow of foul trouble, after picking up two fouls within 19 seconds early in the first quarter.
In typical Connecticut fashion, the Huskies maintained their focus and came out swinging in the third quarter. Late in the period, with Connecticut up by 34 points, Nurse lost the ball after securing a rebound. It bounced just past Stewart's heels into the waiting hands of East Carolina's DeVaughn Gray. Hustling back to the block, Nurse took Gray's shoulder to the chest, falling to the ground with yet another smile on her face as Gray was whistled for the foul.
Not every player has the heart to make that play, but that's exactly the kind of play expected of Nurse.
"I wasn't surprised Kia made a bunch of plays today. She plays really hard every day," Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said. "She's a competitive kid. She has a certain intensity level about her every game."
"She plays really hard every day. She's a competitive kid. She has a certain intensity level about her every game." UConn coach Geno Auriemma
That intensity was on full display.
In a seemingly impossible play, Payne's shot met Stewart's long arms, and before Payne could even blink, Stewart had already launched the ball -- essentially into double coverage -- up the floor. Skying over an East Carolina guard, Nurse delivered a touch pass over her head to a streaking Gabby Williams for a layup.
Nurse's teammates were clearly happy to have the guard back to performing at a high level.
"If you had a game like she had, obviously you're not going to be satisfied," Jefferson said of Nurse's play against Tulane. "But she came out today and had a complete turnaround. We're really proud of her."
Added Stewart: "She came out and did what she does."
With a grin and a shrug, Nurse said everything she needed to. Sorry not sorry.