UConn women's quest for 100 straight wins traces back to high school days

By Mitch Stephens Feb 13, 2017, 5:00pm

Four former Huskies were MaxPreps National Players of the Year and of the current squad, Samuelson, Collier, Williams and Dangerfield were All-Americans.

Video: Historic UConn women as high school stars
Check out footage of some of the big names who are part of a 99-game win streak.


The University of Connecticut's quest for 100 consecutive wins in women's basketball can easily be traced to the Huskies' penchant for signing the best high school players in the nation.

The team's leading scorer and National Player of the Year Katie Lou Samuelson (21.4 points per game) was a MaxPreps first-team All-American in 2015 at Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.).

Other starters — Napheesa Collier of Incarnate Word Academy (St. Louis), Gabby Williams of Reed (Sparks, Nev.) and Saniya Chong of Ossining (N.Y.) were other MaxPreps All-Americans. Key reserve Crystal Dangerfield, a 5-5 freshman, was a two-time first team All-American from Blackman (Murfreesboro, Tenn.).

There have been no less than four former UConn players who were MaxPreps National Players of the Year — all now in the WNBA: Maya Moore of Collins Hill (Suwanee, Ga.), Tina Charles of Christ the King (Middle Village, N.Y.), Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis of Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) and Breanna Stewart of Cicero-North Syracuse (Cicero, N.Y.). Stewart was part of UConn's current win streak.



The Huskies go for their 100th-straight win Monday night at home against sixth-ranked South Carolina.

Collier (19.1 points per game, 8.7 rebounds), Canada native Kian Nurse (13.3 ppg) and Williams (12.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists) are other double-digit scorers.

Williams was also a remarkable track and field athlete at Reed, earning a spot in the 2012 Olympic Trials as a sophomore high jumper.
Graphic by Ryan Escobar