Stefanie Dolson had 19 points on 8 of 11 shooting and had eight rebounds as UConn defeated the Netherlands national team 73-53 on Thursday.

Bria Hartley had 16 points, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis added 12 points and Tiffany Hayes 10 in the first of four games the Huskies will play during their trip to Italy while Kiah Stokes added nine rebounds.

“Overall, I thought we played well tonight," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "We were really good for about 30 minutes and struggled for 10. We let the Netherlands get back into the game in the second quarter but I was happy with the way we came out in the second half. It’s going to be a year-long work in progress and this was a pretty good start.”

UConn opened up a 15-point lead in the second quarter but the Dutch rallied and cut Connecticut’s lead to just two points, 34-32, at the half. The Huskies seized control of the game in the third quarter though, holding the Netherlands scoreless during the first seven-minutes of the second stanza and cruised to the 20-point win.

“Overall, I thought we played pretty well,” Dolson said. "Coach said we played well for 30 of the 40 minutes we were out there. Looking back, I can see that we were solid for a while and then would fall off a bit. Once we calmed down and stopped rushing things and just played together, we were really good."

UConn will play the Italian Select team on Friday at 1 p.m. (Eastern time).