The women’s basketball teams of The University of Connecticut and Notre Dame went head to head in a tough game on Sunday, December 2nd. Both teams may have played their hardest and stuck it out until the end, but the ultimate winners of the game were the Huskies. Even though UConn won the game with eighteen more points than Notre Dame, it was still a very close game.

The game started off really well for UConn, as they took the lead from Notre Dame early on in the first quarter. With six minutes and thirty-six seconds left in the first quarter, Freshman Cristyn Williams scored and gave them the lead of 8-6. Williams ended up scoring a total of 16 points by the end of the first quarter. She rose to the occasion when well-known Katie Lou Samuelson couldn’t get a basket during the whole quarter. The score at the end of that quarter was 27-22 with the Huskies in the lead.

As the game continued on, both teams played tremendously well, but UConn kept their lead throughout the game. Napheesa Collier scored 16 more points for UConn, including 15 rebounds, and she even had 3 blocks. Along with Samuelson stepping up and redeeming herself after the first quarter, by scoring 15 points. With many of their other great players scoring as well, the score was 44-41 at halftime.

It was a close game up until the fourth and final quarter of the game. The Huskies stepped up their game, increasing their lead. With six minutes and eight seconds left in the game, Samuelson hit a three-point play. Additionally, she got a pair of free throws after Notre Dame’s Arike Ogunbowale received a technical foul near the end of the game. Coach McGraw of Notre Dame ended up taking Ogunbowale out of the game because of her unsportsmanlike attitude out on the court. When the game ended a few minutes after this happened, the UConn Huskies were named victorious over Notre Dame, with a score of 89-71.

Before this game, according to the AP polls, Notre Dame was said to be the best team in women’s college basketball and UConn was the runner-up team. But now that UConn beat Notre Dame, they are the best this week. UConn is undefeated and has 8 wins and 0 losses, while Notre Dame has won 7 games and lost 1. Since UConn won against Notre Dame and have more wins than them, they are considered number one in the league at the moment.

There are many supporters of UConn’s basketball team at South Windsor High School, including Juniors Allison Pagliaruli and Veena Bellam. Pagliaruli states that “UConn is really good and has the potential to win it all this year. The game on Sunday really showed that potential.” On the other hand, Bellam is a fan of the team but thinks that “Notre Dame will make a comeback, and they will try out different techniques so that they redeem themselves after this loss.”

There are many differing opinions about what will happen after this game. To find out what happens next and who will become the number 1 team of the league this season, watch their next games. Notre Dame plays the University of Toledo on Saturday, December 8th at 1:00 pm. UConn plays their next game against Seton Hall in the XL Center at the same time and date.