UConn women’s basketball breezes by Georgetown 90-49 with another well-rounded effort; Paige Bueckers expected to miss rest of regular season

A second straight game with a mostly healthy group, a second straight rout in conference play for the UConn women’s basketball team.

No. 10 UConn breezed by the visiting Georgetown Hoyas 90-49 at the XL Center on Sunday afternoon to improve to 19-5 on the season and 13-1 in the Big East.

Each of the Huskies’ eight healthy regular rotation players scored at least seven points on the afternoon, making for back-to-back well-balanced scoring efforts, and seven players took the court for at least 20 minutes. Senior Christyn Williams (19 points), freshman Azzi Fudd (12) and sophomore Nika Mühl (11) all hit double figures

“It’s so refreshing,” Williams said of the team finally having close to a full roster again. “Like a breath of fresh air.”

That’s been reflected in the Huskies’ play, too. UConn shined defensively once more, coming away with a season-high 21 steals that got its transition game going and built its lead. Mühl and freshman Caroline Ducharme finished with six steals apiece.

“It’s validation that when we’re good, we’re really, really good,” coach Geno Auriemma said. “We can be explosive in transition. We can be really good defensively. We can be good in the half court. And now it’s just trying to get 40 minutes out of it.”

The Huskies did, however, struggle with turnovers, committing over 20 for the first time since Jan. 26 and finishing with 21 overall. That included eight in the first period, as UConn started sluggishly for the second straight game.

“Games kind of start funny anymore,” Auriemma said. “It’s just like a slog and then everybody gets into it a little bit and it starts to look more like a basketball game. Then after it does that and they’ve done that long enough, they get bored with that and then they go back throwing the ball to whoever’s available, our team, their team, doesn’t matter. Step on any line. Doesn’t matter.”

UConn used an early 12-0 run on the way to a 20-9 advantage at the end of the first frame. Georgetown briefly cut the deficit to nine before the Huskies used a 19-2 run featuring 17 unanswered points to break the game open. It started with a nice layup from sophomore Aaliyah Edwards, and then a great sequence from graduate student Dorka Juhász and Fudd, who were all over the place with steals, baskets and assists to build some momentum. Evina Westbrook and Williams joined in on the fun, and UConn held the Hoyas scoreless for nearly five minutes in the latter portion of the first half.

By the time the Huskies went into the locker room, they had 16 steals in the first 20 minutes, five from Mühl (who also finished with 3-for-5 shooting from 3, four rebounds and four assists). UConn scored 18 points off Georgetown’s 19 turnovers in the first half alone.

“I know it’s fun to watch, and it’s definitely fun playing that way,” Williams said. “We are at our best when we are getting out in transition, and everything just flows from there. And we really pick it up on defense as well.”

It was more of the same in the third quarter, where UConn scored 22 of the first 32 points of the second half and compiled some highlight-reel plays. Edwards and Westbrook had a nice sequence that resulted in a transition bucket for Edwards.

Then Williams practically broke a Georgetown player’s ankles with her move for a transition bucket.

“I did not know she fell like that because I was just focused on making the layup,” Williams said. “I just saw it like five minutes ago. That was crazy. I’m sorry to the girl.”

Ducharme followed Williams’ play up with a steal and score through contact to push UConn’s lead to 67-29. The freshman’s 3 made it a 70-35 game heading into the fourth.

Freshman Amari DeBerry and sophomore Piath Gabriel converted layups later in the fourth to ensure all 10 available Huskies got on the board. DeBerry’s pair of free throws extended UConn’s lead to a game-high 41 in the final minute.

UConn has three regular season games remaining, all in Connecticut, over the next week.

Paige Bueckers update

Don’t expect reigning national player of the year Paige Bueckers to take the floor for the remainder of the regular season, according to Auriemma.

“There’s some really good days where she feels like ‘I could play tomorrow,’ and then there’s days where she’s reminded ‘no, you can’t,’” Auriemma said. “There’s more good days than not, but she’s not going to be playing this coming week. You’re not going to see her Wednesday, Friday or Sunday. What’s the Big East Tournament look like? I don’t know. We’ll see.”

Bueckers suffered a tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear in the sixth game of the season, Dec. 5 against Notre Dame, and underwent surgery to repair the injuries Dec. 13. She rejoined the team for practice last week.

“When you’re coming off an injury, the only person that knows when it’s time is the athlete themselves,” Auriemma said. “You have to get to a point where you trust it and you feel confident in it, and that’s probably the last thing to come.”

Alexa Philippou can be reached at aphilippou@courant.com.