DALLAS -- It seemed more like an inevitability than an accomplishment, but it should be recognized as the latter. Connecticut's women's basketball program topped itself Saturday at SMU by winning its NCAA record 91st game in a row.
The Huskies previously held the mark in Division I basketball with 90 consecutive victories from 2008-10. Now it's at 91 straight with no end in sight.
Nobody was on the edge of their seats at Moody Coliseum during UConn's 88-48 win; the Huskies got out to a 21-0 lead and pretty much could have named their winning margin. Katie Lou Samuelson led the way with 28 points for the Huskies.
Napheesa Collier set a career high in rebounds with 16, and added 19 points. Gabby Williams had 19 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for UConn (16-0).
The Mustangs didn't score their first points until a layup by Alicia Froling at the 2:04 mark of the first quarter. It was 26-2 after one period, with the Mustangs making just 1-of-17 shots from the field. The score was 44-18 at halftime, with SMU going 6-of-18 to improve their overall shooting to 20 percent.
To the fans' credit, though, the good-sized crowd got into it every time the Mustangs made a good play -- even if it was along the lines of cutting a 30-point lead to 28 points. And there were a good number of UConn faithful who made their way here to Dallas, too, to witness this victory.
The Huskies were up 69-34 after three quarters, and their bench got decent minutes in the fourth quarter. Froling had the best day of any of the Mustangs, finishing with 16 points and 12 rebounds on 7-of-13 shooting from the field.
Once the Huskies got past Maryland on Dec. 29 -- their last major obstacle before hitting 91 -- there was a countdown to this game against the Mustangs. UConn has not lost a game to a league foe since the American Athletic Conference was formed in 2013-14, and it's hard to see that happening anytime soon. Their streak against AAC opponents, counting regular-season and conference tournament games, is 67.
In that sense, the Huskies have somewhat of a precedent that is familiar in this part of the country: Texas once won 183 consecutive games against schools in the old Southwest Conference (1978-90), although women's sports weren't formerly recognized as part of that league until 1982-83.
But UConn was just competing with itself in regard to the overall winning streak. The Maya Moore-led Huskies were stopped at 90 back on Dec. 30, 2010 at Stanford. UConn has one more nonconference game left, Feb. 13 on Big Monday (ESPN2), as the Huskies host South Carolina. That will be for their 100th consecutive victory, barring a monumental (to put it mildly) upset between now and then.
The Huskies have a chance at going into the NCAA tournament -- which they've won 11 times, including the past four years in a row -- on a 107-game winning streak. And the season could -- and likely will -- end for UConn right back here in Dallas, about five miles away at American Airlines Center, home to the Women's Final Four.