Second-seeded UConn rolls past Towson

Napheesa Collier collected 23 points and 14 rebounds as second-seeded Connecticut cruised to a 110-61 victory over 15th-seeded Towson on Friday evening in an NCAA Women's Tournament Albany Region first-round game at Storrs, Conn.

Collier has scored in double figures in all 34 games and has registered 21 double-doubles for the Huskies (32-2), who reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth straight year in a first-round game. Freshman Christyn Williams scored 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting, and Crystal Dangerfield added 20 in the rout.

Connecticut's lopsided win set up a second-round meeting against 10th-seeded Buffalo (24-9), which recorded an 82-71 victory over Rutgers earlier on Friday.

Katie Lou Samuelson finished with 11 points in her return from a four-game absence due to a back injury. Samuelson, who missed the regular-season finale and the American Athletic Conference tournament, sat the latter part of the third quarter and all of the fourth with the outcome no longer in doubt.

Kionna Jeter scored 20 points on 8-for-27 shooting for Towson (20-13), which bounced back from a 9-21 season in 2017-18 to win the Colonial Athletic Association tournament title.

The Huskies, who were making their 31st straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, entered the bracket as a No. 2 seed for the first time since 2006. Connecticut, however, wasted little time flexing its muscle against a Tigers team that was making its NCAA Tournament debut.

Collier scored 12 points in the first quarter for Connecticut, which made 11 of 17 shots from the field to take a 31-7 lead. Conversely, Towson misfired on its first nine attempts and finished 3 of 21 from the floor after 10 minutes.

The Huskies shot 25 of 37 from the field and 9 of 14 from 3-point range to seize a 64-24 lead at the half.

Samuelson elected to primarily distribute the basketball in the first quarter before sinking her third 3-pointer to give the Huskies a 73-33 lead in the third. That basket put all five Connecticut starters in double digits in scoring.

--Field Level Media