Dolson leads No. 3 UConn women over Syracuse 87-62

Instead, his senior star scored just four points, played just 11 minute and fouled out. UConn went on to an 87-62 rout of the Orange on Saturday.

"That was it," Hillsman said. "If she's not on the floor we're just an OK team. When you have your best player playing 11 minutes and take five shots, it's tough to win that way."

Stefanie Dolson scored a career-high 25 points Saturday to lead the Huskies. She hit nine of her 17 shots, also became the 36th player in UConn history to reach 1,000 points for her career.

"When you go out there and you know you have a great post to go against ... it's something you take personal," Dolson said.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis also had 25 points and freshman Breanna Stewart, who grew up in Syracuse, added 20 for the Connecticut. (16-1, 4-1 Big East).

Carmen Tyson-Thomas had 12 points to lead Syracuse ( 15-2, 3-1). Brianna Butler added 11.

"I think that this game was an eye opener for us," Butler said. "It gives us something for us to work on and we're going to work on what we messed up on today for the next games, and I think it's going to make us a stronger team."

Alexander, who had been averaging almost 20 points a game, was forced to sit after picking up her second personal foul less than 5 minutes into Saturday's fame. With the 6-foot-4 senior on the bench, UConn quickly expanded an 8-4 lead to 14-4. Dolson did much of that damage, eclipsing the 1,000-point plateau with her eighth and ninth points, a layup that gave UConn an 18-7 lead.

Tyson-Thomas kept Syracuse close. She hit two consecutive jumpers to pull the Orange to within three at 24-21.

But she also got into foul trouble. The Orange were within one at 28-27 when Tyson-Thomas picked up her third. She took a seat next to Alexander and UConn took advantage. The Huskies closed the half on a 13-2 run and went into the break up 41-29.

Alexander picked up her third foul less than a minute into the second half and her fourth with just over 11 minutes remaining. She fouled out with 5:33 left and her team down 68-55.

"We made her work really hard on defense," said UConn coach Geno Auriemma. "Once you get a couple fouls it takes your aggressiveness away from you a little bit and I think that's what happened to her.

Alexander still needs 16 points to tie Nicole Michael's school scoring record of 1,787.