UNCASVILLE, Conn. – No. 1 seed UConn fired on all cylinders in its debut at the 2020 American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship, dispatching of No. 8 seed Temple in a 94-61 victory in quarterfinal action on Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The top-seeded Huskies will face No. 4 seed USF in the first tournament semifinal on Sunday at 4 p.m. (ET) on ESPN2.
 
Crystal Dangerfield scored a game-high 22 points after hitting 6-of-9 shots from beyond the arc during the contest, chipping in four rebounds to go along with three assists for UConn. American Player of the Year Megan Walker scored 17 points and added six rebounds and three assists, and Aubrey Griffin recorded a double-double with 15 points and 16 rebounds for the victorious Huskies. Temple’s Mia Davis guided the Owls with 21 points and four rebounds in defeat, finishing the game 8-of-14 shooting from the floor. Ashley Jones notched 13 points and six assists on the day for Temple.
 
Temple stormed out of the locker room with a 9-2 run in the first quarter, holding UConn without a point for nearly three minutes. UConn responded with an 8-2 surge of its own to pull back within one point at the media timeout (11-10). Olivia Nelson-Ododa worked hard inside out of the media break to bank home a layup and give UConn its first lead of the game at 12-11. Griffin drew the hoop and the harm at the end of the opening quarter to give the Huskies a 15-13 advantage. UConn began to pull away in the second quarter after Griffin cashed in four straight points for the Huskies (24-18). Dangerfield nailed an open trey at 3:17 of the second period to up the UConn lead to its largest of the game at 37-22 and force a Temple timeout. The Huskies kept the momentum rolling and carried a 47-28 lead to halftime.
                                                                   
It was all UConn in the third quarter as the lead grew to 27 following a jumper late in the period from Anna Makurat. Temple’s Alexa Williamson drew the foul on a made layup in the final minute of the quarter but was unable to cash in the and-1, and Christyn Williams chipped in a layup at the other end to close the stanza with UConn ahead of Temple 73-46. A Dangerfield 3-pointer at 6:29 of the fourth quarter vaulted the Huskies farther in front at 80-52. A 13-2 run by UConn extended the lead to 87-54 at the game’s final media timeout.

Fans can watch the entire tournament on ESPN platforms, including ESPN3, ESPNU and ESPN2.
 
For full coverage of this week’s American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship, visit theamerican.org/wbb and follow @American_WBB on Twitter.