UConn women's basketball swishes to a new record
Before Monday night, the University of Connecticut Huskies were already eight games ahead of their own winning record. A streak sports critics hadn’t expected.
“We’ve been counting on this one for a long time,” said season ticket holder Joann Swanson, who graduated from UConn in 1982 -- three years before Head Coach Geno Auriemma came to the university.
“He’s a genius,” Swanson says. “He’s a genius!”
She’s watched it all: Losing seasons, winning streaks, 11 NCAA championships, including four in a row. And now, 100 straight wins.
No other college or pro team has managed to pull that off. The record eclipses those set by the New York Giants (1916, 26 games), the Los Angeles Lakers (33 games, 1972), the Pittsburgh Penguins (17 games, 1993), and the New England Patriots (18 games, 2008).
What does this say about women in sports?
“We can do whatever we put our minds to,” freshman guard Crystal Dangerfield.
Auriemma “demands nothing less than perfect every single day,” says sophomore forward Katie Lou Samuelson.
“And he wants you to have a great attitude and a great work ethic every single day. And that’s what we focused on.”
So will he ever see a winning streak like this again?
“I never thought I’d see this one!” Auriemma says. “So it’s difficult to say it can never happen, because things that have already happened can happen again!”
The winning streak has lasted three years so far. The underclassmen on the team have never seen defeat.
But the real prize comes in March -- a shot at another national championship.
