Hartford, Conn. ? Freshman Charde Houston scored a career-high 25 points, and Ann Strother added 20, leading Connecticut to a 73-57 victory over Texas on Monday.

The 13th-ranked Huskies (11-4) played smothering defense and dominated inside, holding No. 15 Texas to 34 percent shooting. The Longhorns (9-6) continued to struggle away from Austin, losing to their fourth ranked opponent on the road.

It was the teams’ first regular-season meeting, and the Longhorns had to contend not only with Houston but also with the hostile sellout crowd of 16,294 in the Hartford Civic Center.

Houston, the preseason Big East freshman of the year, continued her offensive tear in just her fourth start. She nearly was unstoppable in the lane and hit her first six shots of the second half to break the game open.

UConn quickly turned a seven-point halftime lead into a rout with 9-of-9 shooting in the first 10 minutes, largely due to the play of Houston. She trotted off for a breather with 10:14 to play in the game to a roaring ovation and a 57-40 UConn lead.

The Huskies led by as many as 20 down the stretch, and their solid defense gave the Longhorns little chance of catching up. Houston had three of UConn’s six blocks.

Rebounding was even at 34-all, but UConn outscored Longhorns in the paint, 42-20.

Men

No. 16 Connecticut 77, Seton Hall 68

East Rutherford, N.J. — Josh Boone scored 20 points, and Connecticut’s frontcourt dominated on an off night by the guards in a victory over Seton Hall. Freshman Rudy Gay added 18 points, and Charlie Villanueva had 16 for Connecticut (11-3, 3-1 Big East), which won for the 11th time in 12 games against Seton Hall despite going 0-for-6 from three-point range. Andre Sweet had 22 points for the Pirates (8-7, 0-4), who lost their fourth straight and are off to their worst conference start since going 0-7 in 1985-86. Villanueva had 12 rebounds, Boone had eight and Gay seven.