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  Sunday, Dec. 10 3:00pm ET
Ralph scores 24 as Huskies win by 42
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- There wasn't much fanfare as Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma reached a coaching milestone.

Shea Ralph
Illinois' Cindy Dallas, left, looks for a passing lane between UConn's Ashja Jones (15) and Shea Ralph (33).
Auriemma notched his 400th career victory as the top-ranked Huskies routed Illinois 97-55 Sunday.

Shea Ralph scored 24 points and Svetlana Abrosimova added 15 for the Huskies (7-0), with Auriemma sitting his starters most of the second half.

Auriemma, who is the 30th coach in women's college basketball to reach 400 wins, said little about the milestone, talking mostly about the game.

The team's private celebration included a homemade pair of glasses with the zeros in 400 as eye holes. Players focused on the game, not their coach, who is now 400-95 at UConn.

"It wasn't a special game for us," Abrosimova kidded, grinning over at her coach. "We just played. It was a special day for him."

Illinois (3-5) was a step behind Connecticut chasing down rebounds and loose balls. The Huskies' pressure defense flustered the young Illini, who lost their most experienced starter, junior Allison Curtin, to injury in the first half. She went for X-rays of her foot and ankle after the game.

Ralph had seven points during a 16-2 Connecticut run in the first half, which ended with the Huskies ahead 40-15. Leading 45-25 at the half, the Huskies scored the first 10 points of the second half before Auriemma pulled all five starters for most of the rest of the game.

"I don't think we had two confident basketball teams on that floor tonight," Illinois coach Theresa Grentz said.

The loss was the worst ever for the Illini at Assembly Hall, and the worst in Grentz's six seasons in Champaign.

"It's a mismatch," Auriemma said. "I know that. Theresa knows that. There's just a different level of talent at this point. We're not out here to embarrass anybody or make them look bad. We're just out here to play the best we can."

Grentz said her young team, which starts three freshmen, will be better for having played the defending national champs.

"They will have had the opportunity to go against the best in the country," she said. "They'll use that later. They'll know what to expect."
 


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