BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Geno Auriemma yelled furiously at the referees late in the first half after he thought Terrapins women’s basketball forward Tianna Hawkins fouled Connecticut guard Kelly Faris as she drove to the hoop.

After several seconds of berating the officials, the Huskies coach earned a technical foul.

Forward Alyssa Thomas calmly drained one of two free throws. Then, Hawkins hit a jump shot with five seconds left in the half to cut a UConn lead — which had stretched to as many as 14 points — down to nine entering halftime.

Unlike many other times this season, the Terps would piece together no critical intermission-spanning run Saturday afternoon. UConn opened the second half on a 9-0 spurt, and the No. 4-seed Terps’ season ended in a 76-50 Sweet 16 defeat to the No. 1-seed Huskies.

“I said leading into this game that Connecticut makes great teams look really bad,” coach Brenda Frese said. “Obviously, you saw that on display today.”

Thomas, who scored at least 26 points in her previous four games, was held to 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Hawkins, the ACC’s regular-season leading scorer, netted only 11 points. The Huskies keyed on the duo, and they combined to shoot 9-of-30.

UConn also outrebounded the Terps, 41-36, marking just the second time Frese’s squad was bested on the boards this year. Center Alicia DeVaughn led the Terps with 11, but center Stefanie Dolson (10 rebounds) bolstered the Huskies down low with her 6-foot-5 frame. UConn dramatically outscored the Terps in the paint, 40-18.

Playing before a sold-out crowd of 8,594 at Webster Bank Arena, the Terps started the game with plenty of momentum from Monday night’s 74-49 victory over Michigan State. The lead changed five times in the first four minutes, and the Terps led 10-8 with 15:27 remaining.

But the Huskies reeled off a 13-3 run and took a 21-13 lead. Dolson and forward Breanna Stewart hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and the Terps missed 13 of 14 shots in that span.

A quick 7-2 rally brought the Terps back within three points, but UConn — as they would all afternoon — had an answer. Guard Bria Hartley and Faris (eight points) hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the lead back up to nine. Forward Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis then scored two straight baskets. After Stewart hit a pair of free throws, UConn owned a 35-23 lead.

The Terps, aided by Auriemma’s technical, responded with five points in the final 57 seconds to end the first half within striking distance at 35-26. The Terps had held the Huskies to 38.9 percent shooting from the field at that point, and five Terps had scored at least four points.

After halftime, UConn surged and the game slipped away from the Terps. The Huskies scored the first nine points of the half, effectively erasing the Terps’ late first-half run and putting them down 18 before Thomas scored the team’s first two baskets of the half. The 14-point hole was the closest the Terps would be the rest of the way.

“Even to be down nine to Connecticut, in my opinion, is too big of a gap,” Frese said. “I thought we would come out of the locker room with a lot more energy. But I actually thought Connecticut, they came in with a knockout punch in the second half.”

UConn shot 58.1 percent in the second half and 17-of-22 inside two-point range. Stewart and Mosqueda-Lewis each scored 17 points in the game, and the UConn bench outscored the Terps’ reserves, 25-0.

Frese called Huskies guard Moriah Jefferson the game’s X-factor. The freshman scored 10 points, dished three assists and notched two steals in 26 minutes off the bench. She was quick, and the Terps — with only guards Chloe Pavlech (11 points) and Katie Rutan (six points) in the backcourt — couldn’t match that boost.

Saturday’s loss wraps up an up-and-down Terps campaign. After losing two projected starters for the season and a key contributor for the postseason, few pundits expected the Terps to make a deep postseason run.

But here they were, battling the nation’s most successful program in the Sweet 16.

They ultimately fell short, but Hawkins — who played her last game for the Terps on Saturday — couldn’t help but see the positives of her senior season.

“UConn is a really great team, but we don’t want to take away what we bring to the table, too,” Hawkins said. “We’re a great team, too. We’ve been struck by a lot of adversity, but we never used it as an excuse. We hung with the best.”

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