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UConn women win 88th straight, tie UCLA mark

Dec 20, 2010 - 4:57 AM New York, NY (Sports Network) - The Connecticut women's basketball team easily pushed its winning streak to a record-tying 88 games Sunday, moving one step closer to history with an 81-50 victory over Ohio State.

The top-ranked Huskies (10-0) tied the men's Division I basketball record of 88 straight wins set by UCLA from 1971-74 while extending their own NCAA women's record.

They will look to break UCLA's record on Tuesday against Florida State.

"I don't want them thinking that they're finished today. I don't want them thinking we're finished Tuesday. We have lots of basketball coming up the rest of this season," said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma.

"We've got a long way to go."

The 11th-ranked Buckeyes (8-2) scored the first six points of the game on consecutive three-pointers from Brittany Johnson. But the Huskies responded with a 13-0 run, keyed by nine points from Tiffany Hayes, and never trailed again.

The UConn lead reached as high as 17 points in the first half and 34 in the second.

Hayes led the way with 26 points and Maya Moore scored 22.

"The one thing we have in common (every game) is we settle for nothing less than the absolute best we can give each night," said Auriemma.

It was UConn's 78th consecutive regular-season victory, breaking the record of 77 set by the Huskies from 2001-04. The team hasn't lost in the regular season since February 5, 2008 and its streak extends to the 2008 Final Four.

Sunday's game was part of the Maggie Dixon Classic and was seen by a crowd of 15,232 people -- the largest ever for a women's basketball game at Madison Square Garden.