By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
           
Just when you think UConn is this invincible giant that no one can touch, the Huskies go out and lose a regular-season game for the first time in over four years.
           
Behind a monster 22-point, 17-rebound performance from senior All-American Kalani Brown, the No. 8/7 Baylor Lady Bears (10-1) defeated the top-ranked Huskies, 68-57, Thursday night before a sellout crowd of 10,284 at the Ferrell Center.
           
Not only did Baylor extend its own home-court non-conference winning streak to 45 straight, the Lady Bears handed UConn its first regular-season loss since Nov. 17, 2014, ending a mind-boggling string of 126 consecutive wins. And the Huskies' last regular-season loss in regulation goes back even farther, to Feb. 18, 2013, when they lost to Baylor, 76-70.
           
"Connecticut gets everybody's best shot," said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, whose team also had a program-first with its first win over a No. 1-ranked team. "They don't lose much, we don't lose much. When you can do it year after year after year, taking people's best shots, and you have an opportunity to play each other, it's good for women's basketball.
           
"We will enjoy this, and they should enjoy it, but you can't overemphasize it. You just can't. We're one of the elite programs. They're the elite of the elite, and we want what they have. They have a lot of them (11 national championships), and we have just two."
           
With a distinct size advantage inside with the 6-7 Brown and 6-4 junior forward Lauren Cox, the Lady Bears dominated points in the paint, 52-10. Cox chipped in with nine points, seven rebounds, five blocks and four assists, while 6-2 freshman forward NaLyssa Smith had 12 points and six boards off the bench.
           
"Are you surprised they scored 52 points in the paint?" said UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who is now 4-3 in the head-to-head meetings with Mulkey and the Lady Bears over the last 10 years. "We knew that was going to happen. We were OK with that. What we weren't OK with was how hard it was for us to get the shots we wanted. And when we did get the shots we wanted, we didn't make any of them."
           
Katie Lou Samuelson, in particular, struggled. The senior All-American came in averaging 20.1 points per game, but was held to 4-of-16 overall and 2-of-10 from outside the 3-point arc, finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
           
"It just felt like everyone was kind of stagnant out there. We were all just looking at each other," Samuelson said. "When we're not getting shots in our offense, we shoot worse than we normally do. That's on us to be able to figure that out."
           
Samuelson was hounded all night by 6-1 sophomore guard DiDi Richards and never could figure a way to shake her.
           
"That kid defended Samuelson with every ounce of energy that she had," Mulkey said. "DiDi has the length, she's active, she made Samuelson work for every shot. She didn't go for shot fakes. . . . UConn does a good job spreading the floor, screening. DiDi had to move all night long. The matchup with Cox and DiDi on their two best players (Samuelson and Napheesa Collier), that was important for us. Our two best defenders on their two best offensive players."
           
Collier also recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but the Huskies got zero points from their bench. Crystal Daingerfield, who had 19 points in a 72-61 win over Baylor two years ago in Storrs, was 4-of-18 from the floor and scored 11 points.
           
Grad transfer guard Chloe Jackson also came up big late with a steal and layup and finishing with 11 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and no turnovers. After missing 12 of her first 14 shots, Jackson hit three in a row and came up with the big steal and layup after UConn had pulled back within six on back-to-back treys.
           
"Coach Mulkey kept telling me to shoot the ball," Jackson said. "Coaches and teammates have seen me make those shots in practice. Those are not shots I can't make. They have the faith and trust in me to keep shooting. That gave me all the confidence I needed."
           
Brown dominated the inside, hitting 11-of-17 from the floor, posting a season high for rebounds (17) and recording her second straight double-double. In the Lady Bears' lone loss of the year, Brown and Cox combined for just seven points.
           
"It did, for sure (motivate me)," Brown said. "Coach made sure of that. She got on us, and me and Lauren took it upon ourselves to respond. Defensively, we did a great job. It's not normal for us to both have a bad game like that. Since we laid an egg, we wanted to redeem ourselves. And that's what we did."
           
Baylor opens Big 12 play with a game against Texas Tech at noon Sunday in Lubbock.