HARTFORD, Conn. — With a little more than 15 minutes left in last night’s game, Connecticut center Stefanie Dolson stood at the foul line for two shots. She made the first and missed the second.

Terrapins women’s basketball forward Alyssa Thomas leapt into the lane and came down with the rebound, but play was halted — Thomas had committed a lane violation, and Dolson would get another chance.

Dolson would miss her next attempt, too, but Thomas’ error was indicative of the sloppy play that plagued the Terps all night. Outmanned and outgunned by a powerful UConn squad, the No. 9 Terps fell to the No. 2 Huskies, 63-48, in the Jimmy V Classic before 11,645 at the XL Center in Hartford.

But the postgame mood was far from somber. The Terps — down two starters and playing their first game without guard Laurin Mincy — held their own for most of a game on a national stage against an elite opponent. Although they never led, the Terps had the Huskies within two points late in the first half and within seven points almost midway through the second.

“I knew we would compete, and I knew we would leave it all out there,” coach Brenda Frese said. “I’ve been a part of a lot of special teams in games. There’s no question I felt like we could come in here and we could win this game. I felt like from our team’s end it doesn’t matter the number of players you have, it’s about how hard you compete and how hard you work.”

Both times the Terps (4-2) got within striking distance of the Huskies (7-0), though, the home team responded. UConn posted a 10-0 run after the Terps closed the first-half lead to two. When a 15-point edge dwindled to seven with 12:59 left, the Huskies scored eight straight points.

“That’s what Connecticut does,” Frese said. “They give you that knockout punch. You see teams come in and never recover. I love the fact we felt like we were able to withstand a lot of those runs and continue to just keep competing.”

Despite the final score, the Terps were by far the stiffest test UConn faced this season. The Terps held the Huskies, who entered the game shooting 57.9 percent from the floor, to 38.3 percent. Leading scorer Breanna Stewart still posted 13 points, but they came on 4-of-12 shooting. And though Dolson led the Huskies with 14 points and eight rebounds, she shot less than 50 percent for just the third time this year.

It led by as many as 19 late in the game, but UConn — which shot 9-of-27 in the second half — outscored the Terps by only two in the final 20 minutes.

“They were pretty resilient in their own right,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “They made some shots, runners and a couple things. I think when those go in you get confidence.”

The Terps’ undoing, though, proved to be turnovers. They committed a season-high 26, and 18 of those came in the first half. Thomas felt pressure nearly every time she touched the ball and was goaded into eight giveaways. UConn guard Kelly Faris had eight steals and continuously harassed Terps ballhandlers in the backcourt.

Thomas had struggles similar to those she suffered in the Terps’ first loss Nov. 17 at St. Joseph’s. Last night, Thomas scored six points while shooting 2-of-12 from the floor in 36 minutes. It was just the 10th time in 73 career games the forward failed to reach double figures.

“I think it was just myself and just in my head and just overamped,” Thomas said. “They didn’t do anything that we haven’t seen all year. It just came down to us hitting shots.”

For UConn, Faris was a difference maker. In addition to her eight steals, the senior scored eight points on 4-of-6 shooting, dished seven assists and grabbed seven rebounds. When the Terps appeared to be closing the gap, Faris made a defensive stop and swung the momentum back to the Huskies.

There were still hallmarks of earlier Terps performances present last night. Forward Tianna Hawkins had team highs with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and the Terps outrebounded UConn, 39-35. Guard Chloe Pavlech scored all 10 of her points in the second half. The Terps’ defensive pressure forced 17 Huskies turnovers, tying their highest total all season.

While the Terps were still turnover prone and flustered under intense defensive pressure, they could only see the positives afterward. After all, they know they might not see a team with UConn’s talent level again until the NCAA tournament.

“For us to come into a hostile environment like UConn and compete with them,” Hawkins said, “that says a lot about our team.”

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