HISTORY: Duffy adds name in record book with win

Continued from page 16 with shots firing on all cylinders, going on a 6-0 run. Meanwhile, Marquette couldn’t seem to find the basket, missing its first seven shots from the field.

It was junior guard Rose Nkumu who ended the drought, turning a steal into a fast layup, getting the Golden Eagles on the board four minutes into the contest.

“They’re gonna make runs,” Duffy said. “They always do. Let’s not make them too big that we can’t sustain it, and I just thought as the game went on, we just got more confidence to execute our stuff on the offensive end.”

From there, it was all Marquette.

King’s personal 8-0 point stretch flipped the tides and ignited a 21-4 run in Marquette’s favor.

“I felt we were starting to knock down shots,” King said. “I felt we had five people connected on the defensive end. For them to only score four points in stretch of our 21 is pretty unbelievable with the way that they can score the ball.”

Auriemma attributed UConn’s quality of play to turnovers, which Marquette turned into nine points.

“We started the game exactly the way we had planned,” Auriemma said. “I think something happened as it started to go the other way, that one stretch in the first quarter, I think, where we had maybe four or five straight turnovers. Think that completely deflated us.”

Defensively, Nkumu posted five steals to turn the contest back in favor of Marquette, who led 27-22 going into halftime.

“I don’t even talk about Rose

(Nkumu) enough. I think Rose’s defense was phenomenal,” senior forward Chloe Marotta said. “She didn’t get hot early. She’s kind of in her head a little bit because of that, and I told her ‘Man, your defense was just very, very impressive.’”

The second half was a story of King and Marotta, who combined for 37 points on the night.

As the clock winded down, the crowd got louder and louder.

“Our building was rockin’,” Duffy said. “It was just a tremendous atmosphere from our fans and to see us continue to make plays in that fourth quarter when it got a little shaky, we just continued to fight and execute.”

King said the young fans in the stands made the win

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more emotional.

“There’s so many young girls in the crowd. I can’t tell you the amount of UConn games I watched growing up. I had emotional hugs with my family because I was that girl watching UConn,” King said. “It’s amazing to see young girls still trying to rise in the society that we live in. It’s just amazing to continue to have that impact on them. That’s something that I really take great pride in.”

It was more than just a win for Marotta too.

“It’s the reason why I came back. It’s the reason why I came here to have moments like this,” Marotta said. “So just to celebrate with this team and this coaching staff means the world to me, so happy to do it.”