UConn women top USF for 97th straight home win

Tiffany Hayes had 33 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 3 Connecticut won its 97th consecutive game at home, beating South Florida 77-62 on Saturday.

Stefanie Dolson tied a season high with 22 points and added 18 rebounds for UConn (19-2, 8-1 Big East).

Hayes, coming off a 35-point performance at Syracuse on Wednesday, had back-to-back 30-point games for the first time in her career. It was her 10th consecutive game in double figures and 18th this season.

Caitlin Rowe had a career-high 20 points and Inga Orekhova added 16 for South Florida (12-10, 4-4).

The win was the 790th in UConn coach Geno Auriemma's career.

Connecticut was up by just one point early in the second half before using a 17-5 run to take control. A three-point play by Hayes helped spark the run, turning a 38-37 lead into a 55-42 advantage with just under 12 minutes to play. Her rebound was the fourth by the Huskies during that sequence.

UConn outrebounded USF 53-28, had 20 offensive boards and outscored the Bulls 32-16 in the paint.

Rose hit a 3-pointer to cut UConn's lead to 64-53 with 4 1/2 minutes left, but another 3-pointer from Hayes stretched the lead back out and gave her 32 points.

She scored her 33rd point a short time later on a free throw after a technical foul was called on a USF coach Jose Fernandez. It was a physical game with 34 fouls _ and UConn's Kelly Faris and South Florida's Tiffany Conner both fouled out.

The win moves Auriemma past Georgia's Andy Landers and into sole possession of sixth place on the all-time wins list.

Dolson had eight of UConn's first 10 points as the Huskies worked to get the ball inside early.

But UConn had a hard time shaking the Bulls. Orekhova, who had 13 of her points in the first half, scored seven straight to turn a 14-10 deficit into a 17-14 South Florida lead. A 3-pointer became a four-point play when she was fouled by Kelly Faris, and she followed that up with another long 3.

UConn responded with a 12-0 run and led by nine points before South Florida responded again. Another Orekhova 3-pointer keyed an 11-2 Bulls run that stretched into the second half and cuts UConn's lead to 36-35.

"This is probably the worst defensive performance we've had in a while," Auriemma said during the intermission.

Hayes and Dolson made 10 of their 14 shots in the first half. The rest of the Huskies were 4 of 16.

Hayes moved into 13th place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,589 points, passing Swin Cash (1,583).