PHOTOS BEGIN
WITH
JONATHAN...WOOF!!! COOPER THE POLICE DOG ADVISES HUSKIES TO GET
VESTS FOR DEFENSE...THANKS DW
Will Jonathan be able to
train for the Iditarod this
year? Jonathan did not run in the
2011 March long distance sled dog race in Alaska: "The Iditarod is a
personal goal for me, but the team, shorthanded as it was, needed me
here
in Connecticut." Then there were only eight in uniform...for
the
BIG EAST tournament, which they won! Back
to nine in uniform, the Huskies rumbled to the Final Four in the NCAAs!
Woof! Woof! Woof! And a big woof, woof, woof!!! to
2002 team honorees (r.) grad assistant Sveta, Stacey, Swin, Maria and
Sue!!! As Kiah says...after on the road victory at Cameron, and
her stepping in for Stef:
“They needed me and I couldn’t quit on them,” Stokes said. “You’ve got
to do what you’ve got to do.”
UCONN'S
LADY
HUSKIES: http://the-boneyard.com/forums/womens-basketball.4/
In
between seasons it is time to exercise with CPTV Zumba specialist (in
the hat, up front).
SCORES DURING THE
SEASON
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncw/scoreboard
WTIC
http://player.radio.com/player/RadioPlayer.php?version=1.2.10624&station=80
UCONN WOMEN: Hartley, Huskies handle Duke on road
By Jim Fuller, Register Staff
jfuller@nhregister.com / Twitter:
@NHRJimFuller
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
DURHAM, N.C. — Somewhere in the
heart of ACC country and in front of a raucous crowd at Cameron Indoor
Stadium, a young UConn team was determined to change its fortunes.
Twice before the Huskies had gone on
the road and pulled defeat from the jaws of victory thanks to their
inability to finish off top five teams on the road.
Fifth-ranked Duke found itself
within five points in the early stages of the second half, and nobody
could have blamed the freshman and sophomore dominated Huskies if a
little doubt was about to creep in.
Yet, just when the Blue Devils might
have thought that they could reach out and snatch the victory away,
UConn responded with a toughness and resolve that the program has long
been known for.
With reserve post player Kiah Stokes
grabbing rebound after rebound and perimeter players like Bria Hartley,
Caroline Doty and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis nailing clutch shots down the
stretch, the Huskies emerged with a hard-fought 61-45 win before 8,033
on Monday night.
“That is how you want to play on the
road,” said UConn sophomore guard Bria Hartley, who led the Huskies
with 15 points. “You want to come and play on the road and make sure we
all play hard and play well. We need road wins like this.
“In previous games in the road, it
came down to us executing. We were able to execute, get on some runs
and were able to score that is what helped us today.”
While the shots were occasionally
hard to come by against a stingy Duke squad, UConn showed that it can
play a little bit of defense by holding Duke without a field goal for
12 minutes after the Blue Devils had cut the lead to five.
“It was a great battle and a great
opportunity for us,” Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “Hopefully we
will learn a valuable lesson when we watch the film, that when you
don’t move the basketball and don’t play together.”
That was certainly the case when the
Blue Devils missed 19 straight shots.
“This was a great defensive game for
us tonight,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “Everybody that played had
a hand in it. Once Kiah took care of what was going around the basket
... The game plan was to make them a jump shooting team instead of
playing in the lane. Once we took care of that, I thought we had the
game going our way.”
Stokes played 28 minutes as starting
center Stefanie Dolson was in foul trouble for much of the game. Stokes
finished with 12 rebounds and five blocked shots and outplayed Duke’s
highly-touted freshman Elizabeth Williams.
Doty had 11 points and a pair of key
3-pointers in the second half. Dolson finished with 10 points in 13
minutes, while Tiffany Hayes had eight points, five rebounds and three
assists for UConn (20-2).
Williams had four points as Duke
opened the second half on a 6-3 run to pull with five points.
Mosqueda-Lewis, who started the second half in place of a woozy Hayes,
drained a 3-pointer to push UConn’s lead to eight points. A couple of
possessions later, Hartley drained an elbow jumper and Doty hit a
jumper in the right corner to put the Huskies up 42-29.
Duke aided UConn’s run by missing 10
straight shots, and the Blue Devils’ offensive woes prevented them from
getting the Connecticut lead under 10 points.
A 3-pointer by Kelly Faris, and
another one by Mosqueda-Lewis pushed the lead to 15. The second trey
was set up by Stokes blocking Williams for the second time in the
second half.
Hayes suffered a blow to the head on
a collision with Shay Selby with 3:44 left in the first half and did
not return to the game until 12:43 remained in the game.
Gray led Duke (17-3) with 13 points,
six assists and six steals, Richa Jackson had 11 points and nine
rebounds and Williams finished with 10 points.
UConn
Tops Devils 61-45
by DBR, January 31st, 2012 |
Women |
by Jim Sumner (lots of super photos
- not the one linked from top of the page, however)
Inviting the Connecticut women to
visit is a little like hosting the Mongol Horde: there’s a good chance
your village is going to get torched.
That’s the way it’s been for Duke
recently. The Blue Devils went into Monday’s game having lost four
straight to the Huskies, by an average margin of 32.5 points per game.
There was a feeling that this year
would be different. The Huskies are talented, no doubt. But they have
road losses to Baylor and Notre Dame and Duke’s recent recruiting
successes seemed to have closed the talent gap. Connecticut has more
experience, but Duke was at Cameron, where they haven’t lost since,
well the last time Connecticut showed up. That would be two years ago.
In most respects Duke did match
Connecticut. Duke fought the Huskies to a standstill on the boards,
forced 21 turnovers (to Duke’s 15) and kept the visitors off the line.
Duke held Connecticut to 61 points, matching their lowest total of the
season, against Baylor. That would be undefeated and top-ranked Baylor.
But somewhere along the line, you’ve
got to put the ball in the basket, that most basic of basketball
skills. Two statistics stand out. Duke had 18 more field-goal attempts
than Connecticut but converted six fewer. Duke grabbed 15 offensive
rebounds but had only two second-chance points.
That’s how you lose 61-45. Duke was
equal opportunity in its shooting woes. Not one Blue Devil shot over 36
percent from the field. Duke missed from inside, from outside, in
transition, with the shot clock about to expire, open shots, contested
shots.
Duke coach Joanne P, McCallie said
Duke wanted to use the clock and make Connecticut play defense for long
periods of time. But with the shot clock running down, Duke went
one-on-one, rushing bad shots.
“We don’t move the basketball, don’t
connect and play together,” McCallie said. “I’m very disturbed by the
eight assists. We broke out of what we do offensively. We were too
one-on-one oriented and we paid a price for that. We weren’t aggressive
in the paint. You’ve got to penetrate, kick and get the ball to the
other side of the floor. You’ve got to move the basketball, shift it,
move it to other places. You don’t change offensively based on who you
play. You impose yourself.”
Haley Peters said Duke lost its
focus several times. Two lapses were crucial. Duke led early, at 5-4
and 8-6. They trailed only 19-15 but Tricia Liston missed two jumpers
that would have cut the lead to two. Connecticut answered with a 6-0
run that gave them their first double-digit lead. It reached 14, at
31-17, before Duke closed the first half on a 6-0 run.
Duke closed to 34-29 and the almost
capacity crowd was roaring its approval. Then the rim shrank. One
sequence sums up Duke’s woes. Trailing 37-29, Chelsea Gray found
Elizabeth Williams in transition for an easy lay-up. Williams missed.
Richa Jackson grabbed the offensive rebound but missed the follow shot.
Peters dug out another rebound and found Liston for a wide-open 3.
She missed.
Three misses in seven seconds.
Duke ended up in a 12-minute
field-goal drought. Actually, there must be a stronger word than
drought. Dying of thirst in the desert sounds more like it.
Peters finally nailed a 3 but that
only made it 50-36 and the Huskies closed it out with the skill one
would expect from them. Duke did fight and claw to the end, a striking
contrast to last season’s blow-outs.
Peters says she noticed improvement
but not enough. “We played better defense than we did last year. I
wouldn’t say we competed for 40 minutes. There were little lapses in
the first half and a couple in the second half. Maybe it’s closer but
not enough. You’ve got to play like that for 40 minutes. If you want to
beat a team like that, you have to lock in for 40 minutes.”
McCallie started one freshman and
four sophomores and it would be unfair to her program to suggest that
they can’t learn and benefit from this game. “I hope this team thinks
we can beat anybody,” she says. “There’s something wrong with them if
they don’t. And they’re really going to feel that regret after they see
the film tomorrow. We played a little young. We imposed ourselves
defensively. We need to learn how to play together, off each other in
those situations.”
Duke has played one of the nation’s
toughest schedules and its three losses were all to top-ten teams. “We
want to be in the fire,” McCallie maintains. “We might have gotten
burned a bit but we did some good things. Lessons across the board and
we go from here.”
NOTES
Duke got exactly zero points from
its bench. That’s in 36 combined minutes. And reserves Shay Selby,
Allison Vernerey and Kathleen Scheer are Duke’s only upperclassmen.
Duke had committed only two team
fouls with less than three minutes remaining. Duke fouled five times in
41 seconds to get Connecticut in the bonus.
But they did so without replacing
their starters with designated foulers off the bench. Thus, Peters
committed three fouls in 16 seconds and fouled out. The game was lost
by that point but the strategy was still curious.
Duke got Connecticut’s 6-5 starting
center Stephanie Dolson in early foul trouble and she played only 13
minutes. But freshman Kiah Stokes came off the bench to lead everybody
with 12 rebounds.
Elizabeth Williams picked up three
fouls in the first half but finished the game with 31 minutes. But her
foul trouble led to a loss of aggression and her replacements were
ineffective. Advantage UConn.
UConn Wins on Road
but Isn’t There Yet
By VIV BERNSTEIN, NYTIMES
January 30, 2012
DURHAM, N.C. — In the post-Maya
Moore era at Connecticut, the Huskies are no longer the alpha females
of women’s college basketball. Baylor and Notre Dame share that place
now.
Third-ranked UConn had already lost
on the road to those teams this season and needed to gain a quality
road win to make a statement about its place in the hierarchy. The
Huskies did that Monday night with a 61-45 victory at No. 5 Duke in
front of 8,033 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
UConn built a 14-point lead
late in the first half, withstood a Duke comeback early in the second
half and eased away. The sophomore guard Bria Hartley led the Huskies
(20-2) with 15 points and 7 assists, and the freshman center Kiah
Stokes came off the bench to contribute 12 rebounds and 4 blocked shots
to help negate Duke’s freshman star, Elizabeth Williams. UConn held
Duke to 25 percent shooting over all.
“We think we are the best defensive
team in the country,” Coach Geno Auriemma said after the Huskies held
the Blue Devils to their lowest output and worst shooting performance
of the season. “Kids buy into that. They are not an easy team to
defend. I think they are harder to defend this year than they were last
year. The effort was unbelievable tonight, for sure.”
UConn hammered Duke twice last year,
including a 75-40 beating in an N.C.A.A. tournament regional final.
Monday’s game was much closer. The sophomore guard Chelsea Gray led
Duke (17-3) with 13 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 6 steals. But it
was not nearly enough against UConn, which ended Duke’s 34-game home
winning streak.
The last team to win at Cameron?
UConn, which beat the Blue Devils, 81-48, in 2010.
“When you go on the road and play a
really good team on their court, I think you grow up as an individual
because you get to make tough shots,” Auriemma said. “You make plays
that mean something.”
Williams, one of only two freshmen
in the country on the Wooden Award midseason list — Kaleena
Mosqueda-Lewis of UConn is the other — scored 10 points but shot only 3
of 15 from the field and had just 4 rebounds. Williams and Gray are the
foundation for a Duke program that is closing the gap on the
powerhouses of women’s basketball. But Duke is young — it has the
youngest starting lineup in the top 25, with four sophomores and a
freshman — and the Blue Devils clearly have a way to go.
“We played a bit young on offense,”
Duke Coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “We played very mature on defense.
We played older than our years on defense.
“There’s an awful lot of teams that
don’t hold Connecticut to 61 points. There’s an awful lot of teams that
don’t play Notre Dame or Connecticut or go to Kentucky. So we do. We
get the fire. We want to be in the fire. We might have got burned a
little bit today, but at the same time I thought we did some very good
things.”
The Huskies had built a 14-point
advantage at 31-17, and sent Williams to the bench with three fouls
along the way, before Duke rallied with a 6-0 run in the final minutes
of the first half.
It was the first time Duke had
trailed at halftime this season, and the Blue Devils’ worst first-half
shooting performance of the season, at 29 percent. Duke was still in it
largely because of Gray, who was 3 for 4 from 3-point range and had a
game-high 11 points at the half. She was held to 2 points in the second
half, shooting 1 of 7.
Duke closed to 34-29 early in the
second half before an 8-0 run restored Connecticut’s double-digit
advantage. Still, Connecticut was not in the clear until the final
minutes, a sign that Duke is gaining ground.
But in the end, it was the fifth
consecutive victory by Connecticut over Duke, and another learning
experience for the Blue Devils.
“It’s a great lesson for us,”
McCallie said. “We need to learn. We need to learn how to play together
and play off each other in those situations, and we took a lot of
rushed shots. Off-balanced and rushed.”
A true team effort
for Huskies
Jim Fuller, NHRegister blog
Monday, January 30, 2012
There have been times this season
when one player would have the weight of the world placed on them.
Whether it was Bria Hartley scoring 25 points in the losses at Baylor
and Notre Dame or watching Tiffany Hayes post games of 35 and 33
points, it seemed like a little bit of a different way for the Huskies
to play.
However, in Monday's 61-45 win at
Duke, it was truly a case of seven players all contributing to a
winning effort.
Stefanie Dolson dominated early,
scoring the Huskies first six points before foul trouble limited her to
13 minutes. Tiffany Hayes a stretch with five points and an assist
during an 8-2 run which gave the Huskies a lead it would never
relinquish. Kiah Stokes ripped down 12 rebounds and five blocks,
Caroline Doty, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Bria Hartley took turns
draining clutch shots in the second half and Kelly Faris also hit an
important 3-pointer.
"That is where teams kind of grow a
little bit is when you go on the road against a really good team on
their court," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "You kind of grow up as
an individual because you get to make tough shots, you make plays that
mean something, you grow as a team because the last time anybody beat
these guys here was us. It is not an easy place to win and I think we
grew up as a team tonight and hopefully that gives us confidence going
forward. That is why we play these games. Some teams say 'well maybe we
don't want to play those games in the Big East part of your schedule
but you play these games because they are great challenges."
HAYES IS OK
Auriemma was at his story telling
best when asked about what happened to UConn senior guard Tiffany
Hayes, who fell hard to the floor in the first half and did not return
until 12:45 remained in the game.
"You either get up and keep playing
or you lay down and you are coming out, that is all there is to it,"
Auriemma said. "None of this crap that a kid lays there for five
minutes and you play the next 25 like nothing happened. You are either
hurt or you are not. When she stayed down, I knew something happened.
When she came out, she didn't look good. That is why we didn't start
her in the second half because Rosemary (Ragle, UConn's trainer) wanted
to take her down there (to the locker room) and put her though that
whole test that trainers have these kids when they get hit in the head.
We were prepared to play in the second half (without Hayes) if we had
to. When I came upstairs for the second half, I didn't think she was
going to play in the second half. As soon as they told me, Bryan
(Enterline) came over and said whoever you sub in is going to shoot the
free throws, I couldn't wait to get Stefanie (Dolson) in. That took
about three seconds."
UCONN/DUKE SERIES HAS THREE MORE
YEARS
This game was the first of the
four-year deal between the teams as UConn will return to Duke during
the 2012-13 season while UConn will host the Blue Devils next season
and in the 2014-15 season.
CHRIST THE KING STILL AIDING HUSKIES
New York powerhouse Christ the King
has been kind to the Huskies over the years as All-Americans Sue Bird
and Tina Charles both played their ball for the Middle Village, N.Y.
squad.
While new recruiting target Saniya
Chong doesn't play for Christ the King, former Royals head coach Vince
Cannizzaro is said to have been the one to tip off the UConn coaching
staff to the talents of the high-scoring junior guard at Ossising
(N.Y.).
Assistant coach Shea Ralph is
planning to check out Chong's game tomorrow while Marisa Moseley will
be boarding a flight to California to do some recruiting including
checking out UConn recruiting target Karlie Samuelson out of Edison
(Calif.) High.
No. 3 UConn women
rout No. 5 Duke 61-45
DAY
The Associated Press
Article published Jan
30, 2012
Durham, N.C. — Bria Hartley scored
15 points and No. 3 UConn beat No. 5 Duke 61-45 on Monday night to snap
the Blue Devils’ 34-game winning streak at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Caroline Doty added 11 points for
the Huskies (20-2). They shot 45 percent, held Duke to a season-low
24.6 percent shooting and forced 19 consecutive missed shots during a
critical stretch of roughly 12 minutes en route to their 10th straight
win.
Chelsea Gray scored 13 points for
the Blue Devils (17-3), who had won 11 straight overall. It was their
first loss at Cameron since UConn visited two years ago.
Elizabeth Williams added 10 points
on 3-of-15 shooting for Duke.
Stokes Comes Up Big
In Reserve For The Huskies
January 31, 2012 at 1:45 am by Rich
Elliott, CT POST
Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie was
asked to comment on the significant contribution of UConn’s 6-foot-3
freshman center Kiah Stokes following Monday’s game at Cameron Indoor
Stadium. At first, McCallie did not know quite how to answer the
question. So she took a look at the final boxscore for some assistance.
When she saw that Stokes had
finished with four points had season-highs of 12 rebounds, five blocks
and 28 minutes in UConn’s 61-45 victory, McCallie knew exactly what to
say.
“Probably the difference maker in
the game,’’ McCallie said. “I didn’t realize she corralled 12 rebounds,
which is more than anybody on our team. And she’s a sub off the bench.
Yeah, she deserves a lot of kudos for that. I didn’t realize that she
collected that many.’’
Stokes came through on a night when
UConn badly needed her to. Starting center Stefanie Dolson picked up
her second foul just three minutes, 56 seconds into the game. UConn
coach Geno Auriemma did not hesitate in sending Stokes to the scorers
table to take her shot at defending Duke’s talented 6-3 freshman center
Elizabeth Williams. And Stokes, who continues to improve, responded.
“That was two pretty good freshmen
going at each other,’’ Auriemma said. “I think Elizabeth right now is
little more advanced as an offensive player than Kiah is. But it hasn’t
been often this year that the coaches were telling me to get Kiah in
for defense because she was going to alter shots and rebound the ball.
She’s such an athletic individual and she’s got such long reach that
something like this is what you expect of her when you see her. But
it’s been a little bit difficult getting it out of her. But we keep
going to her and keep going to her because we had always hoped that
this is there somewhere. It’s just getting it out of her.’’
Stokes got rolling immediately,
producing two points, two rebounds and a steal in the first 2:44 she
was on the court. It was only the beginning.
Stokes would generate seven rebounds
and four blocks in 13 minutes in the second half when UConn took
command. She had a key blocked shot on Williams with 8:09 left in the
game and Duke looking to cut the Huskies’ lead to 10. Kaleena
Mosqueda-Lewis made a 3-pointer 11 seconds later to stake UConn to a
48-33 lead.
“I guess I could be (happy), but I
can’t be happy with this one game,’’ Stokes said. “I have to continue
to grow from this and continue to play hard every day and get rebounds
and block shots. That I know I can do to help my team. Doing anything
to help our team is all I can do. And I know that my teammates are
gaining a little more trust in me so I’ve got to continue to keep that.
I don’t want to let my teammates down, that’s No. 1.’’
Mosqueda-Lewis missed each of her
first six shots, including three 3-pointers, in the first half Monday.
Auriemma wanted to make sure that she did not get tentative and stop
shooting the ball in the second half so he had a talk with her at
halftime.
Mosqueda-Lewis heeded Auriemma’s
advice. And the first shot she took in the second half was one of the
biggest of the game. Her 3-pointer with 16:13 left in the game stopped
a run of four straight points by Duke and gave UConn a 37-29 lead.
Mosqueda-Lewis missed one more shot
before connecting on a second 3-pointer with 7:58 left that gave the
Huskies a 48-33 lead. She finished with six points (2-of-10 FG; 2-of-6
3-pointers), seven rebounds and two steals in 29 minutes.
“I’m always telling her, `You should
never be worried about taking a shot,’’’ Auriemma said. “She passed up
a couple shots (Monday) too. And that’s what happens. Young kids start
missing and they go, `OK, I’m not going to shoot it.’ And I let her
know about it at halftime and on the bench. I said, `You’re out there
for a reason.’ So hopefully she doesn’t let it bother her. But when
you’re a young kid and you know people are counting on you to make
shots and you’re not it’s easy to just say, `OK, well I don’t want to
hurt the team anymore so I’ll stop shooting.’ But those two she made
were huge. No question about it. They were really, really huge.’’
Huskies’ assistant coach Shea Ralph
is going to see Saniya Chong, a 5-9 junior guard from Ossining (N.Y.)
High, play Tuesday night in New Jersey. Assistant coach Marisa Moseley
is leaving on a recruiting trip to California. One of the players she
is taking a look at is Karlie Samuelson, a 5-11 junior guard from
Edison High.
No. 3 UConn women
seize win over No. 5 Duke
Rich Elliott, Staff Writer, CT
POST
Updated 12:29 a.m., Tuesday, January
31, 2012
DURHAM, N.C. -- UConn women's
basketball coach Geno Auriemma tried his best to downplay Monday's
showdown against No. 5 Duke. To him, it was just another game in late
January against a talented team on the road.
To the third-ranked Huskies, though,
the game meant much more. It was another opportunity for them to prove
to themselves that they could protect a lead and close out a game in
the second half against an elite opponent.
The Blue Devils pushed UConn early
in the second half. But the Huskies relied on their rugged defense and
a series of clutch 3-pointers by Caroline Doty, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis,
Bria Hartley and Kelly Faris to seize a 61-45 win before 8,033 at
Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"That's where teams kind of grow a
little bit, when you go on the road and play a really good team on
their court,'' Auriemma said. "I think you grow up as an individual
because you get to make tough shots and make plays that mean something.
You grow as a team because the last time anybody beat this team here
was us. So I think we grew up a lot as a team.''
Hartley finished with 15 points,
five rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Kiah Stokes (four points)
contributed season-highs of 12 rebounds and five blocks off the bench
with Stefanie Dolson mired in foul trouble.
The Huskies (20-2) held Duke (17-3)
without a field goal for a stretch of 11:58 in the second half. The
Blue Devils missed 19 straight shots at one point.
"I think everyone did a good job,''
Hartley said. "You want to come and play on the road and make sure we
all play well and play hard. You need road wins like this.''
The Huskies ended Duke's team-record
34-game winning streak at home in the first of a new four-game series
between the teams. The Blue Devils had not lost at home since falling
to UConn 81-48 Jan. 18, 2010.
Doty added 11 points, three rebounds
and three assists for the Huskies. Dolson had 10 points and three
rebounds. Tiffany Hayes, who spent several minutes both on the bench
and in the locker room after banging heads with Duke's Shay Selby with
3:24 left in the first half, had eight points, five rebounds and three
assists.
The Huskies committed 21 turnovers.
But they limited Duke to 24.6 percent shooting from the field,
including 20 percent in the second half (7-of-35).
"This was a great defensive game for
us,'' Auriemma said. "And everybody that played had a hand in it. The
game plan was to make them a jump-shooting team instead of playing in
the lane. And once Kiah took care of that, then I thought we had the
game going our way.''
Chelsea Gray led Duke with 13 points
(5-of-17 FG), seven rebounds, six assists and six steals. Richa Jackson
had 11 points and nine rebounds. Elizabeth Williams, who trains with
former Bridgeport Central star Nadine Domond, added 10 points (3-of-15
FG), four rebounds, four steals and three blocks.
"It's a great lesson for our team,''
Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "I just can't believe we shot that
ball 69 times the way we did.''
The Huskies had an 11-point lead in
the second half at No. 1 Baylor on Dec. 18 and lost 66-61. They had an
eight-point lead in the second half at No. 2 Notre Dame on Jan. 7 and
lost 74-67 in overtime.
This time, they were able to finish.
UConn led by as many as 14 in the
first half. Duke pulled within 34-29 with 17:19 left in the game before
the Huskies answered.
Mosqueda-Lewis (six points, seven
rebounds) and Doty each made a 3-pointer and Hartley added a pull-up
jumper in an 8-0 run. The Blue Devils missed 10 straight shots during a
scoreless spell of 5:25.
Kelly Faris, Mosqueda-Lewis and
Hartley would each made a 3-pointer later as UConn's lead soared to 18
down the stretch.
No. 3 UConn women
seize win over No. 5 Duke
CT POST
Rich Elliott, Staff Writer
Updated 09:08 p.m., Monday, January
30, 2012
DURHAM, N.C. -- UConn women's
basketball coach Geno Auriemma tried his best to downplay Monday's
showdown against No. 5 Duke. It was just another game in late January
against a talented team on the road.
To the third-ranked Huskies,
however, the game meant much more. It was another opportunity for them
to prove to themselves that they could protect a lead and close out a
game in the second half against an elite opponent.
The Blue Devils pushed UConn early
in the second half. But the Huskies relied on their rugged defense and
clutch 3-pointers by Caroline Doty, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Bria
Hartley to seize a 61-45 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Hartley finished with 15 points,
five rebounds and seven assists. Kiah Stokes (four points) contributed
a season-high 12 rebounds off the bench with Stefanie Dolson mired in
foul trouble.
The Huskies (20-2) held Duke (17-3)
without a field goal for a stretch of 11:58 in the second half. The
Blue Devils missed 19 straight shots at one point.
The game was a rematch of last
season's NCAA Philadelphia regional final in which the Huskies defeated
the Blue Devils 75-40. UConn has won five straight games in the series.
Doty added 11 points, three rebounds
and three assists for UConn. Dolson had 10 points and three rebounds.
Tiffany Hayes, who spent several minutes on the bench after banging
heads with Duke's Shay Selby with 3:24 remaining in the first half, had
eight points, five rebounds and three assists.
The Huskies committed 21 turnovers.
But they held Duke to 24.6 percent shooting from the field, including
20 percent in the second half.
Chelsea Gray led Duke with 13 points
(5-of-17 FG). Richa Jackson had 11 points and nine rebounds. Elizabeth
Williams, who trains with former Bridgeport Central star Nadine Domond,
added 10 points and four rebounds.
UConn had an 11-point lead in the
second half at No. 1 Baylor on Dec. 18 and lost 66-61. The Huskies had
an eight-point lead in the second half at No. 2 Notre Dame on Jan. 7
and lost 74-67 in overtime. This time, they were able to finish.
The Huskies had a chance to blow the
game open late in the first half. They used a 12-2 run to open a 31-17
lead with 2:53 left in the half.
But they missed their final four
shots to allow Duke to climb back into the game. The Blue Devils scored
six straight points to close to within 31-23 at halftime.
Mosqueda-Lewis was 0-of-6 from the
field for the Huskies in the first half. Hayes, who sat out the final
3:24 of the half after her injury, was 2-of-7.
UConn held Duke to 29.4 percent
shooting in the half. Gray scored 11 to keep the Blue Devils within
reach.
Duke would ultimately close to
within 34-29 on a pair of free throws by Williams with 17:19 left.
However, UConn refused to break.
Mosqueda-Lewis and Doty each made a
3-pointer and Hartley added a pull-up jumper in an 8-0 run that gave
the Huskies their biggest lead to that point. The Blue Devils missed 10
straight shots during a scoreless spell of 5:25.
UConn led by as many as 17 (50-33)
with 7:11 left. Haley Peters finally ended the drought for Duke with a
3-pointer with 5:56 left. It was the Blue Devils' first field goal
since a layup by Williams with 17:54 left.
Strong Defense From
Freshman Stokes Leads UConn Women Past Duke
The Hartford Courant
By JOHN ALTAVILLA, jaltavilla@courant.com
9:01 PM EST, January 30, 2012
DURHAM, N.C.
Elizabeth Williams is a freshman
center from Duke who has played extensively for USA Basketball and is
heralded as one the game’s stellar posts.
Kiah Stokes is a freshman center
from UConn who until Monday earned notoriety essentially by causing
Geno Auriemma to say exasperating four times in one sentence after the
Villanova game.
But hey, that’s why they play the
games, right?
With Tiffany Hayes groggy, Stefanie
Dolson in foul trouble and UConn struggling at times to score, it was
Stokes, in the finest moment of her career and UConn’s defense that
kept it focused in a noisy Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Stokes took only four shots and
scored four points. But she had 12 rebounds and five blocks to help the
No. 3 Huskies to a 61-45 win over No. 5 Duke.
Bria Hartley led the Huskies (20-2)
with 15 points and Caroline Doty added 11, making each of her three
three-pointers. Dolson had 10 points, but six came in the opening
minutes before foul trouble sidelined her and made way Stokes.
Duke (17-3) was led by Chelsea Gray
(13 points) and Richa Jackson (11 points). The Blue Devils had won 11
straight and 34 in a row in these hallowed halls dating to UConn’s last
win here two seasons ago.
But you can’t win if you don’t score
and the Blue Devils missed 19 straight shots over a span of 12 minutes
against the nation’s top defensive team.
Duke’s dry spell began with 18:05 to
play in the game after a layup by Williams that brought the Blue Devils
within 34-27. It ended with 6:05 to play a three by Haley Peters that
made the score, 50-36.
Emotional day for
Tiffany Hayes, Huskies
New Haven REGISTER
Jim Fuller blog
Saturday,
January 28, 2012
Tiffany Hayes wasn't particularly impacted when she found out that she
set a Connecticut program record for points in consecutive games.
However, she was reduced to tears when the subject of playing on what
would have been the 23rd birthday of her close friend Jasper Howard.
"One of my friends (Howard) who passed said to play every play like it
is your last you will ever play and his birthday is today. I think I
have been living by that and it gives me a lot of motivation."
That was about all Hayes could get out as she was asked a pair of
follow up questions about the emotional impact of playing on Howard's
birthday as well as the No. 6 UConn hat she was clutching while meeting
with the media after Saturday's 77-62 win over South Florida.
Yeah, it is," Hayes said when asked if it was extra emotional game
playing on his birthday. Then her words trailed off as she began to cry
and turned away from the group of reporters surrounding her.
With 22 points, a career-high 18
rebounds, three assists and three blocks...(drum roll)
Dolson leads UConn
to 77-62 win over S. Florida
CT POST
Rich Elliott, Staff Writer
Updated 03:37 p.m., Saturday,
January 28, 2012
HARTFORD -- Sophomore Stefanie
Dolson began the season regarded as one of the top centers in the
nation. She earned honorable mention All-American status from The
Associated Press.
But since the season began Dolson
has battled inconsistency in UConn's four-guard lineup. She has faced
more double-teams this season in the absence of All-American Maya Moore
and has struggled to get involved offensively.
Again seeking to establish herself,
Dolson took an emphatic step in the right direction Saturday against
South Florida. She finished with 22 points, a career-high 18 rebounds,
three assists and three blocks to lead the Huskies to a 77-62 victory
over South Florida before 13,627 at the XL Center. It was her first
double-double this season and the second of her career.
Dolson had eight points, five
rebounds and two blocks in the first 4:33 to quickly get untracked.
The Huskies (19-2, 8-1 Big East)
extended their NCAA-record home winning streak to 97 games. They have
also won 49 straight games at home against Big East opponents.
Tiffany Hayes registered another
spectacular effort for the Huskies. She totaled 33 points (10-of-15 FG;
11-of-13 FT), 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals. It was her
second career double-double, both have come this season.
Hayes has scored 68 points in the
last two games, surpassing 20 points in back-to-back for the first time
in her 137-game career. It is the first time a UConn player has scored
30 points in consecutive games since Moore had 30 against Baylor and
Georgia Tech in the second and third games of last season.
Bria Hartley added eight points, six
rebounds, six assists and two steals for UConn.
The Huskies, who were just 4-of-20
from 3-point range, out-rebounded South Florida 53-28. They also had
nine blocks.
UConn improved to 11-0 all-time
against South Florida (12-10, 4-4).
Caitlin Rowe led the Bulls with 20
points (4-of-3 3-pointers). Inga Orekhova added 16 points (5-of-11
3-pointers) and five rebounds. South Florida shot 32.8 percent from the
field, including 11-of-38 from inside the 3-point arc.
Dolson (14) and Hayes (11) combined
for 21 points (10-of-14 FG) in the first half for UConn. But the
Huskies committed 11 turnovers, including five by Hayes, and struggled
to defend the Bulls en route to a 36-33 lead at halftime.
Orekhova made four of South
Florida's six 3-pointers in the half. Sasha Bernard, Jasmine Wynne and
Kaneisha Saunders each beat the Huskies off the dribble for layups.
Auriemma said it was one for the worst defensive performances by UConn
in a while during an on-court halftime interview.
The Huskies stepped up their
defensive intensity during the early stages of the second half. They
stopped the barrage of 3-pointers and cut off the drive to the hoop.
The result was a 14-3 run that staked UConn to a 52-40 lead with 13:01
left.
Hayes had eight points, three
rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block in the run. She scored
nine straight points for the Huskies at one point.
South Florida did not get closer
than nine (57-48) the rest of the way. The Bulls went scoreless for a
stretch of 4:14 and without a field goal for 5:35.
Double-Doubles From
Hayes and Dolson Lead UConn Past South Florida, 77-62
The Hartford
Courant
By JOHN ALTAVILLA, jaltavilla@courant.com
3:16 PM EST, January 28, 2012
HARTFORD —
Think of the regular-season as long
to-do list that responsible basketball teams slowly tackle with their
eye on March.
The idea is to check off the line
items in a productive manner, just so everything is in proper working
order when the postseason begins.
The No. 3 UConn women have dutifully
performed this task, as they always seem to do. But there has been one
bullet point that had proven difficult to address to everyone’s
satisfaction.
But sophomore Stefanie Dolson and
senior Tiffany Hayes took care of that – balancing the inside-out game
- Saturday at the XL Center.
Hayes, UConn’s only senior. followed
up her career-high 35 points against Syracuse Wednesday with another 33
points and Dolson tied her season-high with 22 points. It doesn’t get
more inside-out than that.
As a result, the Huskies may have
huffed, and they certainly puffed, but they finally blew South Florida
down, 77-62, before a crowd of 13,627, the second largest of the season.
Now the Huskies (19-2, 8-1 Big East)
head to Duke where they will play the No. 5 Blue Devils Monday at 7
p.m. on ESPN2. Following that, they will have just one non-conference
game remaining – Feb. 13 at Oklahoma.
Caitlin Rowe led the Bulls (12-10,
4-4) with a career-high 20 points. Guard Inga Orekhova added 16, taking
all of her 11 shots from three.
WBB | SU
plays inspired 1st half in loss to Connecticut
By Ryne Gery, Asst. Sports Editor, The
Daily Orange
Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Updated: Thursday, January 26, 2012 02:01
Before Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis could finish her wide-open drive to the
basket, Syracuse's Iasia Hemingway slid over from the opposite block
and met her just outside the lane. The Connecticut forward bowled over
Hemingway, drawing an offensive foul.
The hustle play by Hemingway protected a tied score more than 10
minutes into the game and ignited a fire in her Syracuse teammates.
Elashier Hall let out a jolting scream and vigorously pumped her fist
as she and the entire Orange lineup greeted Hemingway under the rim.
"I just try to bring positive energy," Hemingway said. "Even if it's
the little things like taking a charge or getting a stop, you got to
really be excited because when you're excited, it brings everybody
excitement."
The excitement for Syracuse (13-8, 2-5 Big East) was warranted as the
Orange stuck with No. 3 UConn (18-2, 7-1) for the first 20 minutes
Wednesday night. In front of a record home crowd, SU came out energized
and thinking upset against the vaunted Huskies. Connecticut only
managed a seven-point lead at halftime, but broke the game open in the
second half to blow the Orange away 95-54 in the Carrier Dome.
Syracuse used an efficient performance on offense and kept the Huskies
out of rhythm with its full-court press. UConn came into the game
riding a five-game win streak in which they outscored their opponents
by an average of 44.4 points.
The Orange came out determined to keep Connecticut from running away
with another victory.
"We had the mindset, and we always do in the first half," SU guard
Carmen Tyson-Thomas said. "We got to jump out first, whoever gets the
first lick first. And we came out with a lot of energy and intensity
and effort, and we had a goal, and we wanted to win, of course."
Hemingway ensured Syracuse kept that mindset in the first half, setting
the tone on offense right out of the gates.
The Syracuse forward scored the Orange's first six points, all coming
off aggressive drives down the right side of the lane from the right
wing.
Two minutes in, SU was up four and playing with confidence.
"At the start of the game we understood what we had to do," Hillsman
said. "And we just really needed to get the ball to Iasia and to the
14-foot range and get some straight line drives, and that's what we
did."
With Connecticut soon keying on Hemingway, opportunities opened up for
her teammates.
Syracuse maintained a 9-6 lead more than four minutes in when Hemingway
rolled down the lane to receive an inbounds pass. She was immediately
draped past two Huskies and fell to the ground as a result of the
suffocating defense. But as she lost her balance, Hemingway hit SU
center Kayla Alexander in the middle of the paint for a short jumper.
Connecticut seized the lead for good with 6:25 remaining in the half,
but Syracuse kept fighting.
Down 10 with less than a minute on the clock, Tyson-Thomas grabbed an
offensive rebound off a missed free throw over UConn guard Bria Hartley
and kicked it out to Coffey for a wide-open 3 from the left wing.
The point guard drilled it, bringing the entire SU bench to its feet as
it was within striking distance heading into the half.
"We were positive. We wanted to come back out with the same mentality
we had in the first half," Tyson-Thomas said. "We went in the locker
room and said the same things that we did at the start of the game. We
wanted to continue doing what we were doing."
But Syracuse couldn't keep it going in the second half. The Huskies hit
three 3-pointers to open up a 17-point lead less than three minutes
into the half.
Hillsman saw it slipping away and tried to salvage the game with two
timeouts. But he knew after Hartley put the Huskies up by 13 that the
game was over. He jumped out of his crouch to signal for the first
timeout before walking out to the paint and clapping his hands twice in
a sign of his frustration.
And by the time Hillsman stepped to the podium after the game, that
positive energy from the first half disappeared in a humbling 41-point
loss.
"We don't take moral victories here," Hillsman said. "We lost the game.
We lost the game big."
UCONN WOMEN: Tiffany
Hayes amazes at Syracuse, scores career-high 35
By Jim Fuller, New Haven
Register Staff
Published: Thursday, January 26, 2012
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — As Tiffany Hayes
made her way out of the Carrier Dome after drawing iron on nearly every
shot she hoisted during the UConn women’s basketball team’s Wednesday
morning shootaround, the senior guard had no sense that she would be
authoring the best offensive game of her collegiate career several
hours later.
However, once the lights were on and
a Syracuse women’s basketball-record 4,357 were nestled in their seats,
Hayes had a shooting night that she may never top as Hayes’ career-high
35 points powered the third-ranked Huskies to a 95-54 victory over
Syracuse.
“I just think it was a good day,”
Hayes said. “From what I remember, it has definitely been a hard place
to shoot from. But at shootaround, I was struggling, but during the
game I felt it, so I kept letting it go and they were going in.”
Hayes needed just 15 shots to torch
Syracuse and top her previous career high of 32 points. It was also the
sixth-highest scoring total for a Connecticut player in a Big East
game, and enabled Hayes to move past Cathy Bochain, Jen Rizzotti and
Wendy Davis into 14th on UConn’s career scoring charts.
“It reminded me a game Sveta
(Abrosimova) had when she scored 39 points on 14 or 15 shots,” UConn
coach Geno Auriemma said. “That kind of production; that kind of
efficiency is what good players do. Anybody could get 35 if you take 30
shots or 25 shots, but to do it the way she did it and still get
everybody else involved in the game ... It wasn’t just solely coming
down and doing my thing, she did it within the framework of what we do
and that makes it all the better.”
The final score might make it seem
as if UConn rolled past Syracuse from the opening tip. That simply was
not the case as the Huskies trailed for a span of 6:24 and faced a
seven-point deficit. With the game tied at 24, UConn ripped off 11 of
the next 13 points and took a 40-33 lead into halftime.
In the second half the Huskies shot
62.5 percent from the field and put up 55 points to turn what was once
a competitive game into a runaway.
“They were taking the shots but
weren’t hitting them in the first half and that really helped us out a
lot,” said Syracuse junior guard Carmen Tyson-Thomas. “When they
started hitting them in the second half, they kind of kicked us in the
butt.”
UConn women pull
away from Syracuse
Rich Elliott, Staff Writer, CT
POST
Updated 09:59 p.m., Wednesday,
January 25, 2012
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Huskies
lack a true vocal leader, someone who is comfortable getting in the
face of her teammates when needed and providing motivation. Tiffany
Hayes, the only senior on a team with five underclassmen in its primary
rotation, does not have the personality to serve as a vocal leader.
The example she has set with her
performance over the past few weeks, though, has provided No. 3 UConn
with plenty of leadership.
Hayes did it again Wednesday against
Syracuse. She scored 19 of her career-high 35 points in the first half
and added seven rebounds and three assists to lead the Huskies to a
95-54 victory before an Orange-record crowd of 4,350 at the Carrier
Dome.
UConn-bound recruit Breanna Stewart,
a 6-foot-4 post player from North Syracuse, N.Y., was in attendance
with her family. She is regarded as the top player in the Class of 2012.
Hayes, who has moved into 14th place
in team history with 1,521 points, was 11-of-15 from the field (6-of-8
3-pointers) and 7-of-7 from the free throw line. She has scored in
double figures in a career-high nine straight games and matched her
career high by grabbing at least five rebounds in five straight games.
The Huskies (18-2, 7-1 Big East)
have won 21 straight games against the Orange (13-8, 2-5), although
they trailed 18-11 with 13:55 left in the first half. UConn has won the
last four games over Syracuse by an average of 36.5 points.
It is the 17th time in program
history that the Huskies have won at least 18 of their first 20 games.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis added 19
points, a game-high eight rebounds and two steals in her first career
start for UConn. Bria Hartley had 18 points, three rebounds, seven
assists and two steals. Kiah Stokes had eight points, seven rebounds
and three blocks.
The Huskies shot 51.5 percent from
the field (12-of-25 3-pointers).
Caroline Doty did not play due to a
bone bruise in her problematic left knee. She is, however, listed as
probable for Saturday's game against South Florida at the XL Center.
Iasia Hemingway led the Orange with
15 points, six rebounds and five assists. Syracuse shot 30.6 percent
from the field.
The Huskies started slowly. They
opened 5-of-13 from the field. Keyed by seven points from Hayes, UConn
used a 9-0 run to take the lead.
Hayes later scored eight points in
the final 3:54 to help the Huskies build a 40-33 lead at halftime. She
then scored the first five points of a 12-0 run early in the second
half as UConn took control.
UConn led by as many as 43 in the
final minutes.
Reach Rich Elliott at
relliott@ctpost.com. Follow at www.twitter.com/elliottctpost.
Hayes Scores 35 As
UConn Women Win At Syracuse
The Hartford Courant
By JOHN ALTAVILLA, jaltavilla@courant.com
9:08 PM EST, January 25, 2012
SYARACUSE, N.Y.This was a potentially big night at the Carrier Dome for
those planning on leaving the UConn-Syracuse game with an empty
stomach.
Not only were tickets priced at $2 on “Pack the House” night, but Taco
Bell was sponsoring an intriguing promotion. Free tacos were being readied for those
carrying ticket stubs into one of its local restaurants. To get them
Syracuse didn’t need to beat UConn, fortunate since it hasn’t since
1996.
All the Orange had to do was
score 65 points, something they’ve done just once against UConn [74 on
Feb. 18, 2000] since 1997.
Whether the No. 3 Huskies were aware of this is unknown. But the
nation’s top defensive team is known for making offenses go home
hungry. And speaking
of offense, what has gotten into Tiffany Hayes lately? UConn’s lone senior scored a career-high
35 points, 19 in the first half, to give the Huskies a comprehensive
95-54 win.
Her previous high was 32, scored on the first day of the 2010-11 season
when she had a school-record 30 first-half points against Holy Cross.
Hayes has scored in double-figures in nine straight since an
eight-point performance at College of Charleston on Dec. 22. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis added 19 points (7
of 19 from the field) with eight rebounds. Bria Hartley had 18 points.
Hayes shot 11 of 15 from the floor,
6 of 8 from three. She made all seven of her free throws and had seven
rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Iasia Hemingway led the Orange
(13-8, 2-5) with 15 points.
But there were no tacos for the
crowd of 4,357, which set a new attendance record for the program.
Five foot nine inch almost dunk!
In the windy and as it turned out snowy city, 13-31 magic along with
KML 25 points!
UConn Women Rout DePaul, 88-44
Hartford Courant
11:16 PM EST, January 21, 2012
CHICAGO —
Nothing perks up a Big East women's
basketball arena more than a visit from the UConn women. Wherever they
go, whenever they go there, an animated atmosphere follows.
Such was the case Saturday at
DePaul's McGrath-Phillips Arena. The place was sold out, the band was
rocking and the No. 21 Blue Demons were focused on the upset, as all
the home teams are when the Huskies come to town. And the crowd got the show they paid for,
although it was provided by UConn freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and
the rejuvenated play of her teammates. Mosqueda-Lewis, the reigning high school
National Player of the Year, tied her career-high with 25 points, 18 in
the first half, as the Huskies demolished DePaul 88-44 before a crowd
of 4,001. She also had seven rebounds.
"I've said it all along that there
are only four teams in the country capable of winning the national
championship," DePaul coach Doug Bruno said. "Baylor, Stanford, Notre
Dame and UConn."
Tiffany Hayes added 14 for the
Huskies, her eighth straight game in double figures. And she threw in a
behind-the-back pass on a fast break to set up Lauren Engeln to provide
an entertaining exclamation point. Bria Hartley and Stefanie Dolson also
scored 10 points each for the Huskies (17-2, 5-1), who play next
Wednesday night at Syracuse. Hartley had six steals and Dolson seven
rebounds. Kelly Faris had eight points, six rebounds and six assists,
Guard Brittany Hrynko led the Blue
Demons (15-5, 3-3) with 18 points, including 4 of 5
three-pointers. Anna
Martin, the Big East's reigning player of the week, was held scoreless
in 30 minutes, primarily through the efforts of Faris and Brianna
Banks. Martin was 0 of 6 from the field, 0 of 5 from three. Martin came into the game averaging 19.2,
with 52 points in her last two games. She had scored in double figures
in every game but one. Martin, a junior, has been scoreless only twice
in her career – both times by UConn.
"It's not the same DePaul team that
started the season [they lost senior Keisha Hampton to a knee injury
Jan. 5] so you try to put yourself in their shoes," UConn coach Geno
Auriemma said. "Offense is hard to come by since Keisha got hurt and
most of it is directed at Anna. And whenever that's the case, it is
difficult for the kid. Everywhere she went, there was a hand on her."
The Huskies set an opponent record
at the McGrath-Phillips Arena for blocks (nine) and steals (18).
"They never get credit for their
defense, but they are a great defensive team and I was concerned about
our offense," Bruno said.
The only thing that went poorly for
the Huskies concerned guard Caroline Doty, their oft-injured guard.
With 17:40 to play in the first half, Doty pulled up while driving the
lane and was removed from the game.
"I didn't see what happened to
Caroline," Auriemma said. "Caroline's knee is sore every single day and
likely will be every day for the rest of her life after three
operations. She said she just felt something and there was some
swelling, which isn't unusual. But the decision was made to keep her
out and no one is really concerned about it. There is no alarm for
sure, at all."
After being briefly examined by
UConn's Dr. Tom Trojian, Doty went the locker room for more
observation. She returned a few minutes later and sat at the end of the
bench. A UConn
spokesman said Doty, who has had three surgeries on her left knee, had
recurrent soreness to the knee, likely due to the pace of the Huskies
schedule. This was their seventh game since Jan. 4. When the second half began, Doty had some
ice on the knee and no brace. But her teammates had her back; she was
UConn's only player not to score.
Mosqueda-Lewis scored 18 points in
the first half to help the Huskies open a 53-23 lead. She made 6 of 11
shots in the half, including 4 of 6 from three and had four
rebounds. Averaging
14.2 points coming into the game, Mosqueda-Lewis hadn't scored as many
18 in a game since Nov. 30, 2011, when she scored 21 against Towson, at
the time her second straight 20-point effort and fourth in the first
games. Lately she's
been in somewhat of a shooting slump. In her two previous games, the
freshman was 9 of 31 from the field, 5 of 18 from three.
"Coach has been telling me to just
keep shooting," Mosqueda-Lewis said. "And if they don't go in, just try
to do the other things well, like playing defense and rebounding."
The Huskies had runs of 11-0, 13-0
and 10-0 in the first half, which was played at a frantic pace.
"We talked before the game about
coming out with a lot of energy," Hartley said. "We were ready to play
and we jumped on them early and hit a lot of shots."
Mosqueda-Lewis,
UConn women rock DePaul
Rich Elliott, Staff Writer, CT
POST
Updated 11:42 p.m., Saturday,
January 21, 2012
CHICAGO -- Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis is
too good of a shooter for her slump to continue for very long. She had
made just nine of her 31 shots over the past two games for No. 3 UConn.
The philosophy for elite shooters is
simple. Shoot yourself out of a slump. Do not get tentative
offensively. Mosqueda-Lewis came out firing again against No. 21 DePaul
Saturday. It didn't take her long to put her difficulties behind her.
She scored 18 of her career-high 25 points in the first half to lead
the Huskies to an impressive 88-44 victory over DePaul before a sellout
crowd of 4,001 at McGrath-Phillips Arena.
Mosqueda-Lewis, who finished with
seven rebounds, was 8-of-13 shooting from the field (5-of-7 from
3-point range) in 22 minutes.
"The coaches and the team were
telling me to keep shooting,'' Mosqueda-Lewis said. "From the support
of everybody on the team and knowing that everybody has faith in me
helped a lot.''
UConn guard Caroline Doty, who has
three times torn the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, left
the game with 17:40 left in the first half and went directly to the
locker room. Team doctor Tom Trojian joined her. She returned to the
bench with 11:08 left in the half, but did not return to the game due
to left knee soreness.
A UConn spokesman said that the
soreness has been developing over the past week, likely due to the fact
that the Huskies have played six games since Jan. 7 and four in the
last eight days. Doty's knee was stable when examined by Trojian.
"Caroline's knee is sore every
single day and it'll probably be sore every single day for the rest of
her life when you've had three operations on it," UConn coach Geno
Auriemma said. "But I don't know what happened. I didn't see it happen.
... There's no alarm, for sure, at all.''
Auriemma and DePaul coach Doug Bruno
were recognized prior to the game for being members of the 2012 U.S.
Olympic women's basketball coaching staff. Auriemma is the head coach.
Bruno is one of three assistants along with Mystics assistant coach
Jennifer Gillom and Atlanta Dream coach Marynell Meadors, who were also
honored. Bruno, Gillom and Meadors were presented with red No. 12 USA
jerseys.
The Huskies (17-2, 5-1 Big East)
ended DePaul's 28-game winning streak at home. The Blue Demons (15-5,
3-3) had not lost at home since a 95-62 loss to UConn Feb. 10, 2010.
The Huskies also stopped DePaul's
team-record 33-game home winning streak on Jan. 28, 2006.
Tiffany Hayes added 14 points, five
rebounds, four assists and three steals for UConn. Bria Hartley had 10
points, four rebounds and a career-high six steals. Stefanie Dolson had
10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
Kelly Faris collected eight points,
six rebounds, seven assists, two steals and three blocks.
The Huskies set opponent arena
records with 18 steals and nine blocks.
"Our defense always creates our
offense,'' Hartley said. "We work so hard in practice on keeping our
hands in the passing lanes, tipping passes and someone else getting a
steal and just going down and scoring.''
Brittany Hrynko led the Blue Demons
with 18 points and nine turnovers. Anna Martin, who entered the game
second in the Big East in scoring (19.2), was scoreless (0-of-6 FG;
0-of-5 3-pointers). It is only the second time in her 89-game career
that she has failed to score -- UConn also held her scoreless on Feb.
10, 2010.
DePaul shot 27.8 percent from the
field.
"There's four teams that I think
have a chance to win a national championship and that's Baylor, Notre
Dame, UConn and Stanford,'' Bruno said.
"I just wish our players would have
been a little bit more competitive," he said. "And it's not we weren't
trying."
The game went much smoother than the
trip to Chicago for the Huskies. Their commercial flight was initially
cancelled. Their charter flight Friday was forced to land in
Indianapolis due to a snowstorm in Chicago, Finally, they took a bus
ride of more than four hours to Chicago.
UConn scored the first 11 points of
the game, making four of its first five shots. The Huskies later had
runs of 13-0 and 10-0 in the half en route to a 53-23 lead at halftime.
"Definitely before the game we
talked about coming out with a lot of energy, being ready to play,''
Hartley said. "Especially a Big East road game, those are games you
have to win. So we came out and I just think we jumped on them early."
Effort plays deliver UConn women
Rich
Elliott, Staff Writer, CT POST
Updated 12:14 a.m., Friday, January 20, 2012
STORRS -- The UConn women's basketball
team has long prided itself on outworking the opposition. Whether it is
on the defensive end or battling for rebounds at both ends of the
floor, the third-ranked Huskies realize that these effort plays can
make a difference in the final outcome of a game.
UConn's relentless effort was on
display again Thursday against Cincinnati. The Huskies scored a
season-high 26 second-chance points on 17 offensive rebounds. They also
scored 31 points off of 25 turnovers by the Bearcats in an 80-37
victory before 6,317 at Gampel Pavilion.
Tiffany Hayes had four steals and
Bria Hartley three, and UConn had 13 steals. Stefanie Dolson had a
season-high five offensive rebounds and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had four
as the Huskies extended their NCAA-record home winning streak to 96
games.
"Those are the things that give us
momentum, for this team especially,'' UConn junior Kelly Faris said.
"Those are definitely the things that we feed off of as a team, if we
get a steal or we get a bucket.''
Hartley, Dolson and Mosqueda-Lewis
were honored prior to the game for their involvement with the U.S. U-19
team that won the gold medal in Chile last July. The team was named the
2011 USA Basketball Team of the Year this week.
The Huskies (16-2, 5-1 Big East)
have won all seven games in the series against Cincinnati (9-9, 0-5).
Former UConn player/assistant coach Jamelle Elliott has suffered three
losses to UConn by an average of 36.3 points.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma improved
to 13-0 against former assistants/players Jennifer Rizzotti (7-0,
Hartford), Elliott, Charlene Curtis (2-0, Wake Forest) and Tonya
Cardoza (1-0, Temple). Auriemma shared some words with Elliott
following the game.
"She knows she's on the right track
and I just wanted to remind her of that,'' Auriemma said. "They came in
here and played us better than a lot of teams do. So I'm hopeful for
her. I really am.''
Hayes had 17 points and seven
rebounds (three offensive) for UConn. Dolson added 14 points and eight
rebounds. Mosqueda-Lewis had 10 points (4-of-15 FG) and seven rebounds.
Faris contributed eight points,
seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.
"What good teams do is they
eventually wear you down,'' Elliott said. "I haven't seen them press
this well since I've been around them.''
Hayes (161), Hartley (102) and
Caroline Doty (100) become only the second threesome on the same team
in UConn history to reach 100 made 3-pointers. Diana Taurasi, Maria
Conlon and Ann Strother were the first threesome to accomplish the
feat, in 2003-04.
Dayeesha Hollins scored 15 of her 18
points in the first half to lead Cincinnati, which played their third
straight top-10 team. She scored 13 in the first 8:47 of the game.
The Huskies' lead was just 21-16
with 7:45 left in the first half. But Dolson scored off an offensive
rebound to ignite a 21-3 run to finish the half. Mosqueda-Lewis hit a
pair of 3-pointers. Hayes and Kiah Stokes each added five points in the
run.
UConn's surge continued early in the
second half. Hayes and Doty each made a 3-pointer in a 10-3 run that
helped the Huskies open a 32-point lead with 17:14 left.
"We started shooting the ball,''
Auriemma said. "I think we were just so pass-oriented that first 10
minutes of the game. ... I mean, the rest of us started shooting the
ball. Kaleena never stopped. The rest of us started shooting the ball.''
Last
game until they get to DePaul band-box - it is a sell-out...let's see
if small gym makes for more accurate 3-point range...
Huskies Put A Gentle
Beating On Bearcats
The Hartford Courant
By JOHN ALTAVILLA, jaltavilla@courant.com
10:41 PM EST, January 19, 2012
STORRS –Geno Auriemma will be the happiest coach in the world on the
day Cincinnati finally pushes him to the brink, as long as his Huskies
don't tumble over the edge in the process.
It's then Auriemma will know that
Jamelle Elliott, the Bearcats coach, his protégé, one his
favorite people on earth, has accomplished what she went to Cincinnati
to do; build a program that packs a wallop.
Perhaps that day will come; Elliott
is working hard to make it so. But it's going to be down a road with
more dips and curves than the Bearcats can currently negotiate.
After winning their first six games,
the Bearcats came to Gampel Pavilion Thursday having lost eight of 11.
Playing the No. 3 Huskies on the tail end of a three-game streak
beginning with losses to Rutgers and Notre Dame wasn't going to make it
any easier.
"Jamelle knows what it entails to
bring a team in here to play us," Aureimma said.
The Huskies put a gentle and
respectful 80-37 beating on Elliott's hard-working team before a crowd
of just 6,317. It was the 96th straight home victory for UConn,
extending their own NCAA Division I women's record.
The Huskies (16-2, 5-1) were led by
Tiffany Hayes, who scored 17 points in 30 minutes, shooting 7 of 10.
She also had seven rebounds. Stefanie Dolson scored 14 points in 19
minutes, shooting 7 of 10 with eight rebounds. Kelly Faris and Kaleena
Mosqueda-Lewis (10 points) also had seven rebounds each.
Each of UConn's 11 players scored,
capped off by Michala Johnson's free throw with 1:42 to play.
Dayeesha Hollins scored 15 of her 18
points in the first half to lead the Bearcats (9-9, 0-5), who turned
the ball over 25 times and were out-rebounded, 42-24. The Huskies
scored 26 points off 17 offensive rebounds, five from Dolson.
"We've worked on that a lot in
practice," Dolson said. "Grabbing the ball and putting it back. The
team as a whole did a great job of crashing the boards hard."
The Huskies head to Chicago Friday
to play No. 21 DePaul, and they will do so after already finding out
Thursday afternoon that their commercial flight to the city has been
canceled.
The Huskies accomplished a few
milestones during the win.
Hayes passed Ashja Jones into 17th
place all-time in program scoring. Now she has 1,507. She also has 161
threes, ninth in program history after passing Kerry Bascom.
"Silent points," Hayes said. "But
that's what they used to call me in high school – The Silent Killer."
And Caroline Doty's first three,
with 17:53 to play, gave her 100 in her career. She joins both Bria
Hartley and Hayes, the first time the Huskies have had three players on
the same team with at least 100 threes since Maria Conlon, Ann Strother
and Diana Taurasi in 2003-04.
The Bearcats have been hit by
injuries, the worst of which cost them sophomore Jeanise Randolph (back
spasms) until Dec. 22. Even Hollins, who Elliott believes is her best
player, is dealing with a left shoulder separation suffered Dec. 14
that will likely require surgery after the season.
But Cincinnati pressed on, aware
that the pressing defense and transition play that carried them to
early success this season likely would have little effect on the
Huskies.
"Our game plan was to attack their
pressure," Elliott said. "We got the ball across half-court pretty
good. But the problem was there was only eight or nine seconds left
when we were done [to shoot]. And then you have to hurry it up."
But it was Hollins who led them. She
scored Cincinnati's first 13 points before Bjonee Reaves broke the
spell with 7:45 left in the half.
Without a regular player taller than
6-2, the Bearcats succumbed to the big height disadvantage. UConn
out-rebounded them, 21-10, in the first half and that advantage was
exacerbated on the offensive boards. The Huskies had 10 of them, which
led to 17 second-chance points.
UConn was leading by just five
(15-10) with 12:08 to play in the half before the things started to get
out of hand.
"Cincinnati was really hustling,
outworking us for the loose balls," Faris said. "But then we started to
pick it up and those are the things that fuel us, give us momentum."
The Huskies used good ball movement
to find open shooters, assisting on 10 of their 17 first-half field
goals.
One, a three-pointer by
Mosqueda-Lewis, gave them their first 10-point lead (26-16) with 6:31
remaining in the half.
From there, it was all UConn, which
outscored the Bearcats 16-3 to take a 42-19 lead into the half. All
eight Huskies who played in the half scored.
Happy Birthday
#21, Kelly! Now this was my kind of game! Maya would have
rearranged the pens and pencils on the table neatly - what did KML do?
No. 3 UConn routs
No. 24 North Carolina
Rich Elliott, Staff Writer, CT POST
Updated 10:51 p.m., Monday, January
16, 2012
STORRS -- The UConn women's
basketball team sets out in search of the perfect game each time it
takes the floor. The third-ranked Huskies have come close many times.
Monday was another one of those nights.
Caroline Doty and Tiffany Hayes each
drew a charge in the first four minutes of the game to help set the
tone, and UConn's offense was nearly unstoppable for long stretches in
an 86-35 rout of No. 24 North Carolina before 9,221 at Gampel Pavilion.
Bria Hartley finished with 17
points, three rebounds, a career-high eight assists and three steals to
lead a complete team effort by the Huskies. Six players scored in
double figures as UConn extended its NCAA-record home winning streak to
95.
"It was really good to see us come
out and start the game the way we did," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said.
"They got us on a really, really good night. I'm not sure their best
game would've been enough the way we played."
It was the worst loss for North
Carolina in the history of the program.
Freshman Brianna Banks did not play
for UConn due to a head injury she sustained in practice Sunday. She is
expected to return to practice Wednesday and play against Cincinnati
Thursday at Gampel Pavilion.
"She got trapped at halfcourt,"
Auriemma said. "She slipped, fell down and as she was going down, she
banged into somebody's knee. The next thing you know, she's in the
training room. In today's day and age, you want to really be careful
with those things. So I think it was good that we held her out.''
The Huskies (15-2) played a
nationally televised game on Martin Luther King Day for the 18th
straight season (14-4). Kaleena
Mosqueda-Lewis had 15 points and six rebounds for UConn. Hayes added 13
points and seven rebounds. Kiah Stokes had her first career
double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds). Doty contributed 10 points, four assists
and four steals. Stefanie Dolson had 10 points, five rebounds and three
steals, while Kelly Faris generated eight points, seven rebounds, five
assists and two steals.
UConn scored 30 points off of 26
turnovers by North Carolina. The Huskies also had 16 offensive rebounds
and scored 22 points in transition. The Huskies have won a series-high five
straight games against the Tar Heels (12-5). The last four wins have
been by an average of 37.0 points.
"There's no doubt UConn's a great
team,'' North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "They had the pedal
to the metal and they were really rockin' and rollin' out there. We
were just a step slow and couldn't get anything going. I don't think we
quit. I think we got real frustrated."
Tierra Ruffin-Pratt led North
Carolina with nine points and eight rebounds. The Tar Heels shot 23.2
percent from the field.
Mosqueda-Lewis and Hayes each had
five points to key a 15-0 run that gave UConn a 26-6 lead with 11:34
left in the first half. Mosqueda-Lewis
also had five points in a 16-0 run that staked the Huskies to a 49-14
lead with 1:41 left. They led 51-16 at halftime.
"It was definitely a good start for
all of us," Hayes said.
Seven of the eight players who
played for UConn had at least four points in the first half. The
Huskies shot 52.6 percent from the field, scoring 20 points off of 17
turnovers by North Carolina and 16 in transition by halftime. UConn did not relent in the second half.
The Huskies led by 50 (71-21) with 12:46 left in the game. Their
largest lead was 53.
"Since I've been here, I've heard
the same speech over and over from Coach, that at the beginning of the
game, we hit first, and the second you notice that they're kind of
starting to die down ... you just take their heart out, so to speak,
and finish the game off,'' Faris said. "So I think we did that.''
No. 3 UConn women
rout No. 24 North Carolina 86-35
DAY
Associated Press
Article published Jan
16, 2012
Storrs — Bria Hartley scored 17 points
and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis added 15 to help No. 3 UConn beat
24th-ranked North Carolina 86-35 on Monday night, handing the Tar Heels
the worst loss in school history.
It only took 8 1/2 minutes for the
Huskies (15-2) to blow this game wide open. Leading 11-6, UConn scored
the next 15 points including five by Mosqueda-Lewis and five by Tiffany
Hayes to take command. Hayes’ layup with 11:34 left in the half made it
26-6. North Carolina got within 16, but the Huskies used a 16-0 run to
put the game away.
It wasn’t long ago that North
Carolina (12-5) was one of the rare teams to have had success against
UConn. The Tar Heels won five of the first seven meetings between the
schools, including routing the Huskies 77-54 in Connecticut in 2005.
UConn Women Hand
North Carolina Largest Loss in School History, 86-35
The Hartford
Courant
By JOHN ALTAVILLA, jaltavilla@courant.com
8:52 PM EST, January 16, 2012
STORRS
There are days when playing the
UConn women is among the most futile endeavors in sports. On
those days, the opponent is so overwhelmed, so out of their element,
the game seems over when the bus pulls up to the building.
For an example, we direct your
attention to the World Vision Classic
But until Monday, it was extremely
rare for the Huskies to deliver this category of beating to a team with
a national pedigree, in a major conference and ranked in the Top 25.
Really, when was the last time you
read a final score like this? No. 3 UConn 86, No. 24 North Carolina 35.
The largest loss in the history of the Tar Heels wasn’t exactly what
ESPN2 anticipated. Until this, the Tar Heels hadn’t lost by more than
49 points since a rout against Virginia in 1990.
The Huskies had five players in
double-figures. Bria Hartley led UConn with 17 points and eight assists
and three steals. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis led the Huskies with 15
points and five rebounds, although shooting 3 of 13 from three. Tiffany
Hayes had 13 points and seven rebounds. Caroline Doty and Stefanie
Dolson had 10 points each.
And on her 21st birthday, for which
she was serenaded by the student section, Kelly Faris scored eight
points with with rebounds and five assists.
The Huskies (15-2) resume the Big
East schedule Thursday against Cincinnati at Gampel Pavilion. Then the
Huskies travel to Chicago to play DePaul on Saturday night.
Copyright © 2012, The Hartford
Courant
UConn women rout
Villanova
Rich Elliott, CT POST Staff
Writer
Updated 05:16 p.m., Saturday,
January 14, 2012
VILLANOVA, Pa. -- UConn
women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma knows full well the importance
of getting more production from the post players. There are going to be
games this season when the third-ranked Huskies will need to rely on
center Stefanie Dolson and reserve Kiah Stokes inside.
Auriemma also knows that there will
be teams that will not have an answer for UConn's five-guard lineup.
Villanova, who has only two players taller 6-foot-1 on its roster,
discovered how dangerous the Huskies be when they utilize their small
lineup Saturday.
Tiffany Hayes had a game-high 22
points, five rebounds and three assists to lead UConn to a 72-49
victory before 3,206 at The Pavilion. Dolson played 17 minutes. Stokes
did not play.
UConn-bound recruit Breanna Stewart
and her Cicero-North Syracuse High team were in attendance.
The Huskies (14-2, 4-1 Big East)
have won nine straight games and 34 of 37 against Villanova (11-6,
2-3). UConn will host No. 22 North Carolina Monday at Gampel Pavilion
as part of ESPN's Big Monday package.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis added 16
points for the Huskies. Kelly Faris had with 11 points, seven rebounds
and five assists. Bria Hartley finished with 10 points, four rebounds
and seven assists.
UConn forced Villanova into a
season-high 23 turnovers, including 12 in the first half. The Wildcats
entered the game leading the nation in turnovers at 11.1.
Rachel Roberts led Villanova with 16
points and four assists.
Trailing 13-11 with 13:20 left in
the first half, Auriemma removed Dolson from the game in favor of guard
Brianna Banks following a three-second violation. Laura Sweeney scored
on a reverse layup at the other end to give Villanova its biggest lead.
But the Huskies soon took command in
the absence of a true post player. They scored 15 straight points
during a 21-2 run that staked them to a 32-17 lead with 5:06 left in
the half.
UConn was 9-of-10 from the field
during the run. Mosqueda-Lewis had seven points. Hartley and Hayes had
five.
The Wildcats were 0-for-5 shooting
with 10 turnovers. They went scoreless for a stretch of 7:04 and were
held without a field goal for 9:16.
The Huskies led 37-26 at halftime.
Villanova cut the lead to five
(41-36) with 14:16 left in the game. Behind two 3-pointers by Hayes and
another by Mosqueda-Lewis, UConn answered with a 17-6 run to regain
control.
Hayes scored 10 straight points for
the Huskies at one point.
UConn Women
Dismantle Villanova, 72-49
By JOHN ALTAVILLA, jaltavilla@courant.com
3:52 p.m. EST, January 14, 2012
VILLANOVA, Pa.—
There are basically two ways
Villanova games can go and it all depends on if the ball is going in or
out for the Wildcats.
When Villanova is making shots, the
majority of which are launched from three range at the end of the shot
clock, an opponent can feel like it is being slowly stretched on the
rack.
But when its shots are bouncing off
the iron, which also has a tendency to happen, it’s like walking
through a bountiful buffet of scoring opportunities for the opponent.
Saturday was no exception at The
Pavilion.
Villanova was making its shots in
the first eight minutes and Geno Auriemma was writhing and the Wildcats
were winning.
But once they stopped going in,
UConn’s frustration was immediately transferred leading to its 72-49
win.
The Huskies (14-2) were led by
Tiffany Hayes who scored 22 points and shot 9 of 14 from the field,
including 3 of 5 from three. She added five rebounds and three assists.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis added 16
points. Kelly Faris had 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Bria Hartley had 10 points and seven assists.
Rachel Roberts, the former Mercy
High standout, led the Wildcats (11-6) with 16 points. UConn
forced a season-high 23 turnovers from Villanova, which came into the
game leading the nation by averaging only 11.1.
The Huskies return to Gampel
Pavilion Monday to play No. 22 North Carolina on ESPN2. This is a
different Tar Heels (12-4) team that the Huskies have been used to
play. They have lost two straight, including Thursday night against
Clemson.
TAKING IT TO THE BANKS - KML more like
former namesake KLM
UCONN WBB wins
against an improved Providence Friars five; Freshmen show talents
in
1)left - standing highjump and 2)fearlessness...is this what you
call a "bench press?"
Huskies Take It Out
On Friars, 96-35
The Hartford Courant
By
JOHN ALTAVILLA, jalfavilla@courant.com
10:23 PM EST, January 10, 2012
HARTFORD
—
Practice on Monday at Gampel
Pavilion was spirited, apparently the best the UConn women have had in
some time. Energy and positivity made the hours fly like their
transition when the tank is full.
The Huskies worked on specific
things while their coach worked on their minds. The idea was to
reinforce to the players that their glass is still half-filled, just in
case some of them doubted that.
Certainly, Saturday's second-half
brain freeze in South Bend caused some of the confidence to spill over
the side. But in a way, that's what made Tuesday so interesting.
Poor Providence. It never had a
chance. Three days after its big win over nationally ranked DePaul, the
Friars came to the XL Center and absorbed the full brunt of the
frustration that's been building inside the Huskies.
For one night, practice made perfect
as UConn rattled the Friars 96-35 before a crowd of 8,381.
"We had a lot of energy, which I
think has been the thing lacking in previous games," Bria Hartley said.
"It all came out today. You can tell we produced a great team effort."
Hartley, emerging as UConn's go-to
offensive player, and Tiffany Hayes, whose help she sorely needs, led
the Huskies with 19 points each.
Hartley shot 7 of 7 from the field
in 25 minutes. Hayes was 6 of 8 from the field, 6 of 7 from the foul
line.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had 13 points
and six assists and Stefanie Dolson added 12 points and five assists
for the Huskies, who shot 65 percent from the field and dominated the
Friars (9-8, 1-3) off the boards, 42-18. All 11 players scored for the
Huskies.
"The team felt really good about the
game because everyone had a hand in it," Geno Auriemma said.
Providence (9-8. 1-3) was led by
Lauren Okafor, a native of New Haven, who scored eight points. The
Friars turned over the ball 25 times.
UConn (13-2, 3-1) is now at the
season's midpoint and so far, so almost good. Part II, the Sprint to
the Postseason, begins Saturday at Villanova. The Huskies' next home
game is Monday at Gampel Pavilion on ESPN2.
This not-unexpected win [UConn is
27-0 against the Friars since 1993] means UConn has gone 670 straight
without losing two in a row, perhaps the most astonishing statistic of
all the remarkable ones they have compiled.
Just like the College of Charleston,
which took a 48-point pounding after UConn's loss at Baylor, the Friars
were overwhelmed.
The difference this time came with
the style points UConn earned. It was a buffet of rugged defense,
efficient execution and strong inside-out play.
Auriemma wanted to use the game to
give his young players time to strengthen their confidence. And the
primary beneficiary was freshman guard Brianna Banks, who played 20
minutes and whose development at the point Auriemma deems crucial.
"I am starting to get the hang of
things a little bit," said Banks, who scored eight points with five
rebounds. "I've been working hard in practice and it kind of helps in
the games."
The better Banks runs UConn's
offense, in concert with Caroline Doty, the more chances Hartley, Hayes
and Mosqueda-Lewis will have to do what they do best.
But Kiah Stokes and Heather Buck,
who hadn't played the last two games, also got some much needed playing
time as Auriemma experimented with combinations; some small, some tall,
some somewhere in between.
Buck, playing with her injured right
wrist still tightly wrapped, made 3 of 4 foul shots and made her only
field goal attempt.
"They all did a great job," Hartley
said.
The Huskies took about seven minutes
to get rolling. They led 12-9 with 13:33 to play before blowing out the
Friars primarily with their small lineup of five guards causing
defensive havoc and running the floor.
"It took some time to get into the
flow of things," Auriemma said. "We waited a little longer to take all
the threes we've been rushing lately. It gave us more of a chance to
get things done in the lane. And it did happen for us."
UConn shot 19 of 27 in the first
half and forced 14 turnovers. Hartley, who had 25 points at Notre Dame
to assume the team's scoring lead, had 15 in the first half, shooting 5
of 5 including two threes.
The Huskies also accomplished
something else very important. They moved the ball inside to Dolson,
whose inconsistent offensive contribution at center is one of the most
critical unresolved issues on the team.
Dolson was 4 of 5 from the field in
12 first-half minutes, scoring eight points with four assists. And
Mosqueda-Lewis, who struggled at Notre Dame with just seven points, had
nine in the first half with three rebounds and two assists.
UConn women roll
past Providence
DAY
Associated Press
Article published Jan 10, 2012
Hartford — Bria Hartley and Tiffany Hayes each scored 19 points and No.
3 UConn bounced back from its loss to Notre Dame with a 96-35 rout of
Providence on Tuesday night.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis had 13 points and eight rebounds and Stefanie
Dolson added 12 points for the Huskies (13-2, 3-1 Big East), who
extended their home-court winning streak to 94 consecutive games.
Lauren Okafor scored eight points to lead Providence ( 9-8, 1-3 Big
East), which was coming off an upset of No. 21 DePaul.
The Win Was Uconn’s 168th In A Row Against An Unranked Opponent, A
Streak That Dates Back To 1999. The Huskies Haven’t Lost At Home To A
Team Outside The Top 25 Since March 1993 — a span of 259 games. That
was the same year the Huskies last lost back-to-back games in the Big
East.
UConn shot 65 percent from the field while holding the Friars to 15
baskets on 50 attempts.
The game was sloppy early, as the teams combined for 13 turnovers in
the first 10 minutes. The Huskies, who turned the ball over 27 times in
their loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, had five of those.
But UConn made eight of its first 11 shots and Hartley hit all seven of
hers. She had 15 points at the break, and played just seven minutes in
the second half.
A give-and-go layup from Kelly Faris to Hartley made it 41-13, part of
a 21-4 run that broke the game open. The Huskies led 48-17 at halftime.
Hayes took over the scoring burden in the second half, scoring 13
points after intermission. She hit six of her eight shots and her
3-pointer put the Huskies up 63-23 less than five minutes into the
second half.
The win was UConn’s 27th in a row over Providence, which was hoping to
give the Huskies a good game after beating DePaul 60-52 on Saturday.
That was the Friars first over a ranked opponent since they beat
Pittsburgh three years ago.
Providence hasn’t beaten Connecticut since March 7, 1993 in the
semifinals of the conference tournament.
Teya Wright, who came in averaging over 14 points and just under 11
rebounds a game, had just six points and four rebounds in this one.
Hartley has scored in double figures in six consecutive games. She has
scored over 20 points three times, but wasn’t in the game long enough
to extend that to four.
The loss to Notre Dame ended UConn’s 57-game conference winning streak.
But the Huskies have been good at bouncing back. They haven’t lost two
in a row in the Big East since falling to Providence and Louisville in
March of 1993.
They are 47-0 after a loss since then.
Overtime loss to ND.
This time around,
UConn women are underdogs
DAY
By PAT EATON-ROBB Associated Press
Article published Jan 7, 2012
There is a bit of a role
reversal in this year's matchup between Big East rivals UConn and Notre
Dame.
The No. 3 Irish (14-1, 2-0
Big East), perennial underdogs to the No. 2 Huskies (12-1, 2-0), are
this season's coaches' pick to win the conference.
Despite winning 12 of the
last 13 meetings between the two schools, UConn believes it is the team
with something to prove after losing to Notre Dame in last season's
national semifinal. The two rivals meet today in South Bend at 4 p.m.
(Chs. 3, 12).
"Of course, it's still in the
back of our mind," said UConn forward Kelly Faris. "But, if you want to
sit there and go into a game thinking, "OK, we're going to pay you back
for last year,' you're going to lose. If that's all you have in your
mindset, you're not thinking about the right things."
The right things include how
to stop a Notre Dame team that returns four starters who played in last
year's national championship game and barely lost to Texas A&M. The
Irish are on an 11-game winning streak, and looking to win the
program's first conference regular-season title since 2001, the year
they won the NCAA title.
This team is led by Skylar
Diggins, the Big East preseason player of the year, who is averaging
more than 16 points. Natalie Novosel (15.6), Deveraux Peters (10.5),
and Brittany Mallory, also are back from the team that went 31-8.
The Irish average more than
85 points and have scored over 90 seven times, including a 128-42 rout
of Mercer on Dec. 30. Meanwhile, UConn is leading the nation in defense
by holding opponents to under 43 points a game.
"We've played them, it feels
like 1,000 times, so they know us, we know them," Faris said. "It's
going to come down to effort, heart and who is going to be more
aggressive."
UConn may look a bit
different to the Irish without Maya Moore, who graduated after scoring
36 points in the Huskies' 72-63 loss last April. The Huskies have spread out the offensive
load this season, with three players averaging more than 14 points a
game. They often run a four-guard offense.
"It's kind of an equal
opportunity offense and you've really got to worry about everybody on
the team," said Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. "You can't just
worry about one person."
Both teams also feature a
player who didn't figure in last year's Final Four game. Freshman
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis is leading UConn with 15 points per game, while
Notre Dame sophomore Kayla McBride chips in more than 12.
Each team's loss this season
has come on the road to top-ranked Baylor. It's an experience UConn
coach Geno Auriemma said will help the Huskies today.
"We might go up there and get
our brains beat in, but at least we're going to know what we're getting
ourselves into," Auriemma said. "There won't be any surprises."
Neither coach is treating the
game as a must win. It is January, after all, and the schools will meet
again at end of the regular season in Hartford.
"This is the game we look at
and say, "How far do we have to go to be ready for March?" McGraw said.
"What do we need to improve on? I don't think you learn as much about
your team when you win by 30 or 40 points."
Notre Dame senior Brittany
Mallory is looking forward to the test. "We're excited for this
weekend, it's a big rivalry and a great game between us," she said.
"We'll be ready."
Hartley Leads UConn
Women Past West Virginia
The Hartford Courant
By JOHN ALTAVILLA,
jaltavilla@courant.com
9:17 PM EST, January 4, 2012
HARTFORD
There
are no such things as trap games for the UConn women, unless the
Huskies are the ones tripping the spring.
But playing West Virginia, no matter
the time of year, can be as painful as being caught in one with an
angry bear heading up the hill.
No one needed to remind UConn what's
coming this weekend at Notre Dame. College kids may have short
attention spans, but the memory of last year's loss to the Irish in the
national semifinals lingers for those who suffered through it.
Still, the significance of Saturday,
at least to the remainder of the Big East championship hunt, would have
been lessened somewhat if UConn did not take care of business Wednesday.
That business involved fighting
through West Virginia and its particularly bruising brand of basketball.
The No. 2 Huskies did it,
eventually, but not without sustaining their share of welts. They
swatted away the pesky Mountaineers, 79-60, at the XL Center before a
crowd of 10,130.
"It's going to be like this all
season in the Big East," Geno Auriemma said. "Both teams like to play
defense."
Bria Hartley led five Huskies in
double figures with 18 points on a night her teammates scrapped for a
long time to get what they could get. The Huskies were 4 of 20 from
three.
Despite it, Kelly Faris added 14
points, five assists, five rebounds and six steals. Tiffany Hayes had
13 points, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis added 12 and Caroline Doty had 11
points.
The Mountaineers (10-4, 1-1) were
led by Asya Bussie (19 points) and Christal Caldwell (17 points).
Copyright © 2012, The Hartford
Courant
No. 2 UConn tops
West Virginia, extends record home streak
Associated Press
4 January 2012
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Bria Harley
scored 18 points and No. 2 Connecticut extended its NCAA-record home
winning streak to 93 games with a 79-60 win over West Virginia on
Wednesday night.
Five players scored in double
figures for UConn (12-1, 2-0 Big East), which broke open a close game
in the second half.
Kelly Faris had 14 points and six
steals, Tiffany Hayes had 13 points, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis added 12
and Caroline Doty chipped in 11.
Asya Bussie had 19 points and
Christal Caldwell added 17 to lead West Virginia (10-4, 1-1), which has
lost 24 straight games to Connecticut after winning the first contest
between the two schools back in 1982.
It was the 44th consecutive Big East
win for UConn and its 24th consecutive win in conference home openers.
Hayes and Dolson
lead UConn women past Fairfield
Rivals.com
29 Dec. 2011
STORRS, Conn. (AP)—Tiffany
Hayes scored 23 points and Stefanie Dolson added 22 points as No. 2
Connecticut routed Fairfield 93-40 Thursday night.
Dolson made 11 of her 13 shots from
the floor for the Huskies (11-1), while Hayes connected on 8-of-11. As
a team UConn made 59 percent of its shots.
Desiree Pina scored 12 points to
lead the Stags (7-4), who had won four straight games prior to Thursday.
Brianna Banks and Kaleena
Mosqueda-Lewis added 12 points each for the victors.
Dolson, a sophomore center dominated
play right from the start, scoring 14 of the Huskies’ first 16 points.
The Huskies have won eight straight
games against their in-state rivals, though this was the first meeting
between the schools since the 2001-02 season.
During a halftime ceremony UConn’s
2002 national championship team were inducted as Huskies of Honor.
Among those in attendance for the festivities Thursday were Sue Bird,
Maria Conlon and Svetlana Abrosimova.
UConn’s
2001-02 Team To Be Inducted Into Huskies Of Honor
CT POST
December 27, 2011 at 11:07 am by Rich Elliott
UConn’s undefeated 2001-02 team is
arguably the best team in the history of the sport. It will be inducted
into the Huskies of Honor at halftime of Thursday’s game against
Fairfield at Gampel Pavilion (7:30 p.m.).
The members of the 2001-02 team who
are expected to be in attendance for the ceremony are head coach Geno
Auriemma, associate head coach Chris Dailey, graduate assistant coach
Svetlana Abrosimova, athletic trainer Rosemary Ragle, team physician
Tom Trojian, Sue Bird, Ashley Battle, Maria Conlon, Stacey Marron and
Ashley Valley. Several members are unavailable because they are
currently playing professionally overseas.
The Huskies of Honor program, which
was established in 2006, pays tribute to the top individuals and teams
in program history. Auriemma, 13 players and the 1994-95 and 1999-00
national championship teams have already been inducted.
Following the official ceremony to
honor the 2001-02 team Thursday, a 4×5 foot panel will be on
permanent display at Gampel Pavilion. The team finished 39-0 and led
the nation in scoring (87.0), scoring defense (51.6), scoring margin
(NCAA record 35.4), field goal percentage (.520), field goal percentage
defense (.321), rebound margin (15.5) and assists (21.7).
Auriemma was named the Naismith and
WBCA National Coach of the Year that season. Bird, Swin Cash, Asjha
Jones, Diana Taurasi and Tamika Williams earned All-American honors,
while Bird was the consensus National Player of the Year.
Bird (No. 1), Cash (No. 2), Jones
(No. 4) and Williams (No. 6) were taken among the first six picks of
the 2002 WNBA Draft.
UConn Women Lose
66-61 To Baylor
The Hartford
Courant
By JOHN ALTAVILLA,
jaltavilla@courant.com
12:10 AM EST, December 19, 2011
WACO, Texas
Tall order, big task, large obstacle. Each expression, older than
Naismith's peach basket, put a modern handle on the fascinating task at
hand Sunday at the Ferrell Center.
Of course, this did not apply solely to UConn's chore against Baylor's
6-8 center Brittney Griner, although her size now shadows her sport
like an eclipse.
"She's blessed," said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey
Still, the No. 1 Bears still had to deal with No. 2 UConn and its
defense and will. And in the days leading to the 1-2 matchup, Geno
Auriemma wondered out loud why no one wanted to talk about how the
Bears would track his Huskies.
Pictures: No. 2 UConn Women Vs. No. 1 Baylor
The Hall of Fame coach found out why. Griner, on her way to becoming
the national player of the year, led the Bears to a 66-61 win with 25
points (9 of 15), nine rebounds and nine blocked shots before 10,627,
most dressed in green and gold.
"This will help us for the rest of the season," UConn center Stefanie
Dolson said. "We will take it for what it is and learn from the things
we didn't do well."
Sophomore guard Odyssey Sims (7 of 11) added 22 points for the Bears
(11-0), who trailed by six at the half and 11 (50-39) with 13:17 to
play.
"We didn't let it faze us," Griner said. "But I can't do what I do
without my team, especially O [Sims]."
"We knew we needed defensive stops and to get the ball inside and let
Brittney do her thing," Sims said.
The Huskies (9-1) were paced by Bria Hartley, who scored 25 points,
including five threes.
"When you come into a place like this, you really need to withstand
many things or you are not going to win," Auriemma said. "For 35
minutes, we did that. I thought we were good enough to win."
The Huskies seemed to have control when they took their first
double-digit lead, 50-39. But all that did was fuel the Bears. They
went on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to one with 10 minutes to play.
Then Hartley and Dolson scored to rebuild the lead to 54-49. And then
Griner took over, especially from the free-throw line.
In last year's one-point loss in Hartford, Griner was 5 of 13 from the
line. Sunday, she was 7 of 7 and that helped push Baylor into a 62-58
lead with 2:32 to play.
"It was the first thing I looked at on the stat sheet," Griner said.
The Huskies took only three free throws, making two. The Bears were 16
of 18 and won even though Sims and Griner scored 48 of their 66 points
and 16 of their 23 field goals. But Terran Condren's three late in the
game was key.
"We all made some plays, if not all on the offensive end," Mulkey said.
Still, Griner was the difference.
"The obvious answer is she is much bigger than anyone she will play
against, but she has developed a few more ways to score, which makes
her harder to defend," Auriemma said. "All you can do is hope she
misses or hope they can't get her the ball."
Griner's presence provided a natural story line, as every game she
plays in likely will. In their last meeting in November 2010, Dolson,
playing in her second career game, committed two fouls in the first 3
minutes, 6 seconds and spent the final 15:42 on the bench.
The same thing happened again. Dolson committed two fouls in the first
4:54 and was soon on the bench for junior Heather Buck.
Dolson scored six points in 25 minutes, with no blocks and four
rebounds.
In the meantime, Baylor was building a lead as large as 16-8, with
Griner hitting 4 of her first 5 shots.
It wasn't until freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (15 points) entered
that UConn began to pick it up offensively. With Buck doing a better
job on Griner, the Huskies quickly moved back into the game and
eventually into the lead.
"Heather did a good job of getting her into spots on the floor where
she's not comfortable," Auriemma said. "I don't know how long you can
do that."
The Huskies tied it with 7:02 to play on a bucket by Hartley, and after
Griner and Sims scored the next five points, Mosqueda-Lewis and Tiffany
Hayes (10 points) hit consecutive threes to give the Huskies their
first lead, 27-26, with 4:37 to play.
By that time, the Huskies were in the midst of a 26-12 run that would
give them a 34-28 halftime lead. Hartley (12 first-half points), who
played such an important role in the final minutes of last year's win
in Hartford, scored the final seven points of the half.
The Huskies capped things off in the half by going on a 10-2 run over
the final five minutes. And Griner took only two shots during the big
UConn run, encompassing the final 13:27 of the half.
No. 2 UConn women
rout Seton Hall 70-37
NYTIMES
By DOUG FEINBERG
AP Basketball Writer
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (AP) Even Geno Auriemma was puzzled by this one.
No. 2 Connecticut delivered a swift knockout Friday night, scoring the
first 20 points in a 70-37 victory over Seton Hall. But the Huskies
also had an offensive funk that the Hall of Fame coach hadn't seen from
his young team all season.
"It was really weird," Auriemma said. "I was saying the first 10
minutes was kind of productive, we got some things done. Everything
else was a struggle. I don't know how to describe it, there was no
rhythm or flow to it. A lot of missed shots. Maybe it's this gym. A lot
of times we come down here and it's not exactly stellar basketball."
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Tiffany Hayes and Caroline Doty had 15 points
apiece for Connecticut, which next faces No. 1 Baylor on Dec. 18.
The nation's top two teams met last season in Hartford and UConn came
away with a one-point victory.
"I think we have a couple things we need to work on this week in
practice," Mosqueda-Lewis said. "We'll be ready by that date."
On Friday, there was no such drama.
The Huskies (9-0, 1-0 Big East) quickly took the spirited crowd out of
the game. UConn hit four 3-pointers during the opening burst, and Kiah
Stokes capped the run with a layup 7 minutes into the game.
"We have better offensive players than they do," Auriemma said. "For us
it was getting the right people enough shots in the beginning. Our
pressure got us some shots."
It took another minute before the Pirates (5-5, 0-1) got their first
points - two free throws by Alexis Brown. Seton Hall's first basket
didn't come until its 14th shot with 8:27 left in the first half when
Brittany Morris converted a three-point play. That made it 30-5. The
Pirates wouldn't get within 22 the rest of the game.
"The press was the difference, you
can't prepare for Connecticut's pressure," Seton Hall coach Anne
Donovan said. "You can prepare with your own players, but it doesn't
simulate what you see game time. The difference of the game after that
point was he took the press off. We talked long and hard about taking
care of the basketball. We didn't take care of that from the beginning
to the end."
UConn opened the season with eight straight home games and ran through
its opponents. The Huskies won by an average of 43 points, including a
30-point rout of No. 8 Texas A&M on Tuesday night.
Playing its first road game did give UConn a little trouble in the
second half. After Bria Hartley's layup with 15:34 left made it 55-23,
the Huskies went more than 9 minutes without a point as Seton Hall was
able to cut the deficit to 23. Hartley finally ended the drought with a
lay-in with 6:25 remaining and the Huskies cruised the rest of the way.
"There's no excuse for the offensive players we have to go without
scoring, that's inexcusable," Auriemma said. "We're too good to do
that. We're too good a team to throw it at the rim and run back."
After taking a few days off for exams, the Huskies will travel to Waco
to face the Lady Bears before heading to the College of Charleston.
The Huskies have won 56 straight Big East regular-season games. It's
the fourth longest conference streak ever, trailing Texas, which won
124 consecutive games in the Southwest Conference from 1981-1990. The
Huskies have dominated the Pirates over the last 18 years, winning 43
of the last 44 meetings. The lone loss came on Jan. 5, 1994.
Jasmine Crew scored 12 points for Seton Hall.
"It felt good to have the students come out and support us," Crew said.
"Hopefully they'll continue to do that."
The game featured the last two Olympic coaches. Donovan led the U.S.
team to gold in the 2008 Beijing Games, while Auriemma will coach the
Americans next year in London.
No. 2
UConn women rout No. 8 Texas A&M 81-51
DAY
Associated Press
Publication: theday.com
Published 12/06/2011 12:00 AM
Updated 12/06/2011 09:23 PM
Hartford — Tiffany Hayes and Kaleena
Mosqueda-Lewis each scored 14 points to help second-ranked UConn rout
No. 8 Texas A&M 81-51 on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic.
Kelly Faris added 13 points, seven
rebounds and six assists for the Huskies (8-0). Caroline Doty had 11
points as UConn put six players in double figures. She sat out the
final 30 minutes of the Huskies’ win over Towson on Nov. 30 after
suffering a concussion. She showed no ill effects against the Aggies.
The victory was UConn’s 91st
straight at home, extending its NCAA record. The Huskies’ last home
loss came in the 2007 Big East championship game to Rutgers.
Texas A&M (6-2) was coming off
its first loss of the season, falling to then-No. 13 Purdue on Sunday.
Huskies roll once again
Force
30 turnovers en route to 90th straight home-court victory
DAY
By PAT EATON-ROBB Associated Press
Article published Dec 1, 2011
Hartford - Geno Auriemma wants his
guard-dominated UConn team to play pressure defense and run and gun on
offense.
The Huskies (7-0) showed off that
style Wednesday night, forcing 30 turnovers and hitting 12 3-point
shots in routing Towson 91-32.
"That's the strength of our team,"
Auriemma said. "We have a bunch of guards with a certain skill level
that translates well with full-court stuff. They are good with the ball
in the open floor, and we're a pretty good shooting team. It's an
appropriate way to play for this particular team."
Bria Hartley had 24 points and five
assists and freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis scored 21 points for No. 2
UConn (7-0), which extended its NCAA-record home-court winning streak
to 90 games
The Huskies, who had four players in
double figures, have won 163 straight against non-ranked opponents, and
256 in a row against the unranked at home.
Camille Alberson had nine points to
lead Towson (4-2), which had 20 in the first half, when the Huskies
jumped out to a 52-14 lead.
UConn, which shot 60 percent from
the floor, opened in a pressure defense and led 8-0 just 2 minutes into
the game as Kelly Faris stole the ball at half court and drove for a
layup.
It was 12-6 when the Huskies went on
a 17-0 run, scoring the last 15 points of that stretch from behind the
arc. Mosqueda-Lewis had four 3-pointers in 2 ½ minutes during
that run.
UConn hit eight 3s in the first
half, scored 28 points off the 20 Towson turnovers and led 52-14 at the
break.
"We just want to make our defense
become our offense," said Hartley, who also had four steals. "We go out
there, high intensity on defense, get a lot of steals, get our hands on
passes and I think we came out really strong doing that today."
The Huskies stretched the lead in
the second half, going on a 19-2 run that made it 88-25, despite
emptying the bench.
Tiffany Hayes finished with 16
points and Stefanie Dolson had 11.
The Huskies had one minor scare when
junior guard Caroline Doty banged her head on the floor after being
fouled on a drive to the basket with just under 5 minutes left in the
first half. Doty, who missed half her freshman year and all of last
season with knee injuries, did not return from the locker room at
halftime.
UConn officials said she had a mild
head and neck injury and was staying inside to avoid the crowd noise.
"She landed on her hip and then her
shoulder and then her head and she just had a headache," Auriemma said.
"By the end of the game she was fine."
Mosqueda-Lewis, averaging a
team-high 15.5 points per game coming in, scored 20 for the fourth time
this season. She hit five of her eight 3-point shots, a skill she says
she had to develop over the past few years.
"I wasn't a shooter before, I was a
post player before and I couldn't shoot 3s worth a lick," she said.
"It's a lot of hard work. My dad and I were in the gym for hours every
day."
The game was Towson coach Joe
Mathews' 300th at the school, and his 177th loss.
Both the Tigers' losses this season
have come to Top 10 teams. They were beaten by No. 6 Maryland 82-46 on
Nov. 16 and had won three in a row before facing the Huskies.
Towson opens its conference schedule
on Sunday at home against James Madison.
"Our conference is very strong and
very tough and challenging every night," Mathews said. "You have to
play better competition to be prepared for it. I don't think you can
play much better than UConn and Maryland at this point."
UConn hasn't lost in November since
2004, when North Carolina beat the Huskies 71-65. This was UConn's 14th
perfect November in past 15 seasons.
UConn has almost a week off before
hosting defending national champion Texas A&M next Tuesday, the
last of eight consecutive home games to begin the season.
UConn
makes it look easy again
DAY
Article published Nov
27, 2011
Storrs - If Tiffany Hayes isn't
UConn's top scoring threat this season, it bodes pretty well for the
Huskies that their secondary option can have a game like this. Hayes had 30 points and 11 rebounds and
No. 2 UConn beat Buffalo 90-34 Saturday night in the World Vision
Classic.
"We have a lot of different
options as far as scoring," Hayes said. "When it's your night, it's
your night. It just happened to be my night. And a lot of it came from
something that I've been working on lately, that was rebounding."
"When Tiffany plays like
she's playing that whole first half, with the kind of aggressiveness
that she had, it's awfully comforting to the rest of the team," UConn
coach Geno Auriemma said.
"Tonight it wasn't just
staying out there and shooting 3s, being one-dimensional. She did a lot
of things that we've seen her do in the past."
Stefanie Dolson added 17
points and six rebounds for UConn (5-0), which held a 49-22 advantage
on the boards. Stonington's
Heather Buck also had another solid game with eight points and seven
rebounds in 17 minutes.
Hayes, a senior guard from
Lakeland, Fla., was 10 of 15 from the floor and 9 of 9 from the
free-throw line. She just missed her career-high of 32 points, but she
did add a career-high five steals.
"She did a little bit of
everything today," Dolson said of Hayes said. "She rebounded great, she
made open shots, she attacked the basket. I think we definitely need
this from her every night."
Buffalo (2-4), which committed 32
turnovers, was led by Brittany Hedderson's 12 points.
The win was UConn's 88th
consecutive at home, extending its Division I record and tying the all
time NCAA record set by Division III Rust (Miss.) College from
1982-89. The Huskies
actually had some trouble with turnovers (10) in the first half but
still led 44-14. That's
because Buffalo committed 20 turnovers in the same span and UConn ended
the first half on a 19-0 run.
"They're everywhere. They're
so long and athletic and quick," Buffalo coach Linda Hill-MacDonald
said of the Huskies' pressure defense. "If your spacing is bad, if your
passes get too high or too slow or too low, then they're going to take
the ball from you. I thought we, many times, were passing the ball too
long."
Hayes had 24 points, five
rebounds and four steals by halftime. Dayton beat Fairleigh Dickinson 84-48
earlier Saturday in the round-robin event. The Flyers and Huskies will
play today for the tournament's title at 4:30 p.m. Auriemma was actually a bit disappointed
in his team's execution during Friday's 74-28 win over Fairleigh
Dickinson, but saw plenty more he liked against Buffalo some 24 hours
later.
"I thought it was a lot
better," Auriemma said.
Already ahead 59-26 midway
through the second half, the Huskies scored 17 straight points to turn
the game into a rout. Heather Buck capped the spurt with a steal and
breakaway layup that put UConn up 76-26.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, the freshman
forward who entered the game as UConn's leading scorer, had just two
points and missed all eight of her shots from the floor. Still,
Mosqueda-Lewis helped the Huskies with seven assists, three steals and
two blocks.
Auriemma jokingly referred to
Mosqueda-Lewis as "Baby Jesus" because of her potential and some of the
outlandish predictions about her career, but also praised her for
playing rather well when her jump shot was off its mark.
"She might be the best passer
that we have into the post," Auriemma said. "She finds Stefanie a lot."
Brianna
Banks leads UConn rout
Geno Auriemma calls record victory
‘embarrassing’
Norwich BULLETIN
By PAT EATON-ROBB, The Associated
Press
Posted Nov 25, 2011 @ 11:28 PM
Storrs, Conn. —
UConn coach Geno Auriemma called his
team’s 46-point win over Fairleigh Dickinson an embarrassment to the
game. Freshman Brianna
Banks scored 17 points and No. 2 UConn extended its NCAA-record home
winning streak to 87 games with the 74-28 rout in the World Vision
Classic on Friday night. Kaleena Masqueda-Lewis added 11 points
and nine rebounds for the Huskies (4-0), who jumped out to a 44-5
halftime lead and then appeared to coast the rest of the way.
“I thought it was the worst
exhibition of basketball I’ve ever seen by two teams in the 27 years
I’ve been in Connecticut,” Auriemma said. “We should give everybody a
refund.”
The just over 6,000 fans who came to
watch got to see the Huskies set a defensive record in the first half.
Shut-down defense
UConn held the Knights without a
field goal for the game’s first 13 minutes and 20 seconds.
Mariyah Laury’s jumper made it 29-3 and came on FDU’s 20th shot from
the floor. The 44-5
halftime lead broke the UConn school record for fewest points allowed
in a half. It had been six in a 2005 win over Providence.
“I think we played great defense,”
said Banks. “We just didn’t really do anything on offense like we
should have.”
The five points for FDU was just two
off the record for the fewest points scored in any half of a Division I
women’s game. Savannah State trailed Florida State, 54-3, at
halftime Nov. 23, 2003. Georgia Tech led, 49-3, over Tennessee State on
Dec. 30, 2010. It
appeared Farleigh Dickinson was going to add its name to that list, but
Torrie Childs hit a bank shot in the lane with 42 seconds remaining in
the half, and UConn went into intermission up 39.
Off-night
Fairleigh Dickinson ended up 2 for
29 from the floor in the half. They hit seven of 26 in the second
and shot just over 16 percent from the floor for the game.
“We just tried to do as many
positive things as we could,” said FDU coach Pete Cinella. “It was a
very tight second half. They only outscored us by seven. A couple of
plays could have gone either way, and we could have outscored them. We
just try to take as many positive things as we can.”
UConn now won 160 consecutive games
against teams outside of the Top 25, and 253 straight against the
unranked at home. Stephanie
Isaacs and Erika Livermore had six points each for Farleigh Dickinson
(1-4), which features six newcomers and five true freshmen including
Livermore.
“We always try to just ignore the
opponent,” said Tiffany Hayes, who had nine points and seven rebounds
for UConn. “We just want to go out there and play. Don’t treat it as
who we are playing, treat as just us playing.”
UConn, which beat No. 3 Stanford by
10 points on Monday will play Buffalo in the second game of the
round-robin tournament tonight. Buffalo lost to Dayton 94-74 in the
tournament’s first game on Friday. UConn will face the Flyers on
Sunday. Connecticut
pulled down 63 rebounds against the undersized Knights, who had just
39. Fairleigh Dickinson also had 17 turnovers, bringing the team’s
season total to 111.
Stokes scored all nine of her points
in the half, and also had nine of her 11 rebounds before intermission. Connecticut’s starters sat for much of
the game as UConn played its entire bench and eight players made it
into the scoring column. Mosqueda-Lewis become the first Husky in
double figures. Her jumper with 8 1/2 minutes left in the game
made it 65-23.
Connecticut is now 297-3 in its last
300 games against unranked opponents, with its last loss coming in
December, 2004 at Arizona State. UConn hasn’t lost to a team from the
Northeast Conference since January, 1983 when Monmouth beat the Huskies
83-64.
UConn has won its last 54 games in
Gampel Pavilion since a 60-56 loss to Rutgers in February, 2006.
UConn Shows Resolve,
if Not Star Power
By JERÉ LONGMAN, NYTIMES
November 22, 2011
HARTFORD — So this is what it is like for Connecticut women’s
basketball when the second-ranked Huskies must climb a mountain instead
of starting at the preseason summit.
Maya Moore is gone, but a productive freshman forward named Kaleena
Mosqueda-Lewis is wearing her No. 23 jersey. And UConn’s ruthless
determination is on permanent scholarship, as evidenced in Monday’s
gritty 68-58 victory against third-ranked Stanford.
It was a game of Final Four intensity, if not quality, early in the
season, another resolute encounter in a rivalry that has now supplanted
UConn-Tennessee as the most riveting in N.C.A.A. women’s basketball.
The first four-plus minutes were wild, hurried, scoreless. Not until 14
½ minutes remained in the game did UConn get a basket by someone
other
than Mosqueda-Lewis (25 points) or guard Bria Hartley (19 points). But
the Huskies turned the tide their way, pressing Stanford’s bigger
lineup, strangling it with double-teams, and using relentless speed and
hustle to counter superior size.
When the Huskies (3-0) did stand toe to toe, the 6-foot-5 center
Stefanie Dolson used her improving stamina, willing muscle and
disruptive wingspan to collect 9 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.
“It was like a November heavyweight fight,” Stanford Coach Tara
VanDerveer said. “I thought it was extremely physical. Those are games
you usually see in March.”
The Cardinal halted UConn’s 90-game winning streak in December. Should
these two teams meet again in the N.C.A.A. tournament, it could be that
Stanford (3-1) will prevail with its depth and eight players who are
6-2 or taller, including the pogo-sticking Ogwumike sisters, Nnemkadi
and Chiney.
But there are also six freshmen on the Cardinal roster whose rough
edges need polishing. On Monday, the Huskies strong-armed their
opponent, shouldering the Cardinal aside, tipping away passes,
scrambling on the floor for loose balls. Kelly Faris, a 5-11 guard,
stuck her nose in against Stanford players three to six inches taller
and did not retreat, though she hit the court hard a few times with a
thudding sound that suggested she had fallen down an elevator shaft.
“Connecticut clearly was more aggressive than we were,” VanDerveer
said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.”
UConn had no choice but to come out punching, Coach Geno Auriemma said.
Stanford was too big to grant permanent residency in a halfcourt
offense. So the Huskies pressed full-court, keeping the Cardinal’s
front line unsettled and hunting for transition baskets for their own
guards in the open floor.
Stanford shot only 23 for 62 (37.1 percent), turned the ball over 16
times and saw the production of its frontcourt tempered by foul
trouble. Nneka Ogwumike, expected by many to be the first pick in next
spring’s W.N.B.A. draft, scored 22 points, but she drew two quick fouls
and spent all but six minutes of the first half on the bench.
“We played so hard for 40 minutes,” Auriemma said. “That’s one of the
better defensive efforts I’ve seen us have in a long, long time.”
For the first time in five seasons, the Huskies played without the
steady and reliable influence of the graduated Moore, who brought the
Huskies two N.C.A.A. titles. Baylor, with 6-8 Brittney Griner, sits
atop the polls and carries the mantle of favorite.
Lacking an upperclassman rudder, UConn’s offense appeared adrift at
times. Apart from the feathery perimeter shots of Mosqueda-Lewis and
the slashing drives by Hartley, UConn shot 7 for 37 from the field. But
the Huskies took care of the ball, committing only seven turnovers. And
everyone seemed to make a contribution at a key moment.
Guard Tiffany Hayes missed all eight of her shots in the first half,
but hit a layup with the score tied, 36-36, then drained a 3-pointer
that put the Huskies ahead to stay at 41-38. She had 13 rebounds, 6
assists and 3 steals along with 9 points.
“We didn’t say you need to score, but you need to contribute,” Auriemma
said.
Guard Caroline Doty, who missed last season with a third tear of the
anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, hit a one-legged
3-pointer, then another shot from beyond the arc in the closing
minutes, a one-two combination that forced Stanford’s resilience into a
standing eight count.
“At some point, all those are going to go in,” Auriemma said of his
team’s errant shots. “The key is how do you beat a really good team
when they don’t go in? That’s what we did tonight.”
There was one player who had no problems with accuracy. The 6-foot
Mosqueda-Lewis, the national high school player of the year from
Anaheim Hills, Calif., entered five minutes into the game and scored 19
points by halftime. Interviewed on television at intermission, Auriemma
agreed that Mosqueda-Lewis did not look like a freshman.
“She looks like the best player on the floor,” he said.
She finished 10 for 17 from the field, including three 3-pointers,
confirming her reputation as a celebrated shooter.
“There’s no hesitancy on her part,” Auriemma said. “She doesn’t catch
it and wonder, what do I do with it?”
But it was the completeness of Mosqueda-Lewis’s performance, which
included eight rebounds and two steals while she played insistent
defense, that left Auriemma with rare circumspection.
“I don’t want to say what I think,” he said. “It’s too early.”
He did allow that those who consider Mosqueda-Lewis simply a dependable
shooter do not fully appreciate the breadth of her skills.
“She’s a really accomplished basketball player,” Auriemma said. “That
is going to surprise, or has surprised, a lot of people. Shooters, they
just fill up the box that says shot attempts. But I think there’s a lot
of numbers in a lot of the boxes under her name.”
UConn gets physical
in win over Stanford
New Haven Register
Jim Fuller blog
Monday, November 21, 2011
If one image (other than precocious freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis
torching Stanford for 19 first-half points) will stay with me following
UConn's 68-58 win over Stanford on Monday night, it is seeing Kelly
Faris jostling with the larger Stanford post players possession after
possession. Faris had to pick herself up off the floor countless times
but she typified the attitude the Huskies displayed in beating Stanford.
UConn actually outrebounded the much bigger Stanford squad 46-45
including an 18-12 edge on the offensive glass. The Huskies won even
though there was 14:33 remaining before another UConn player other than
Mosqueda-Lewis or Bria Hartley hit a basket.
:Offenisively is it really hard to have any kind of rhythm (this early
in the season)," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "I am not surprised
that we were this good defensively but I am surprised that we would be
as effective as we were because I didn't know what the size
disadvantage was going to be like for
us. We played so hard for 40 minutes, That is one of the best defensive
efforts we've had in a long, long time and I was really pleasantly
surprised by that."
The defense had to be strong because the offense was shaky for the
Huskies, who missed their first 10 shots. Starters Tiffany Hayes,
Stefanie Dolson, Kelly Faris and Caroline Doty were a combined 7 of 35
leaving Mosqueda-Lewis and Bria Hartley (19 points) to carry the
offense for long stretches.
"The key is how do you beat a really good team when they don't go in
and that is what we did tonight. We didn't win the game because we made
every shot tonight," Auriemma said. "I think you feel better when you
win games when shots don't go in."
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer credited the physicality of the UConn
team as being the difference.
"It was kind of like a November heavyweight fight. I thought it was
extremely physical and those are the games you usually see in March,"
VanDerveer said. "It was really good for our team to see that and get
ready for it.
"Tonight was Connecticut's night, they were on a mission. Connecticut
clearly was more aggressive than we were, I don't think there is any
doubt about that."
No. 2 UConn Beats
No. 3 Stanford 68-58
NYTIMES
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 21, 2011
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Kaleena
Mosqueda-Lewis scored 25 points and Bria Hartley added 19 to help No. 2
Connecticut beat third-ranked Stanford 68-58 on Monday night.
The pair carried the Huskies (3-0)
for the first 25 minutes as the rest of UConn couldn't make a shot.
Trailing by six at the half,
Stanford (3-1) went on a 10-2 run to start the second half, led by
Nnemkadi Ogwumike. Her layup gave Stanford a 36-34 lead. UConn answered
as Stefanie Dolson hit a layup — ending an 0-for-24 drought by the
other Huskies to start the game — that began a 15-6 burst.
After Dolson's jumper, Hayes, who
missed her first 10 shots, made a layup and a 3-pointer. Hartley's
layup capped the run and made it 51-42 with 9:19 left. Stanford could
only get within six the rest of the game.
Ogwumike scored 22 points and
freshman Jasmine Camp added a career-best 14 to lead the Cardinal.
These two teams have developed a
vigorous rivalry over the past few years. Before Monday, they had
played five times in the last three seasons with three of those
meetings coming in the Final Four. UConn beat Stanford for the 2010
national championship and the Cardinal ended the Huskies' NCAA record
90-game winning streak last December.
Stanford had a chance to end another
streak as the Huskies had won NCAA record 85 straight home games,
including 41 in a row at the XL Center. The Huskies, who last lost at
home in the 2007 Big East championship game, wouldn't let that one end
spurred on by the 13,771 fans, which included UConn great Sue Bird.
This is the earliest these two
powerhouses have met on the schedule and it was a chance for UConn to
see where it stood against a top opponent. After two easy victories to
start the season, this was UConn's first test since Maya Moore
graduated. The four-time All-America and two-time player of year, who
helped lead the Minnesota Lynx to a WNBA title this past summer, was at
the game, shadowing ESPN commentator Rebecca Lobo.
Without their all-time leading
scorer, UConn got off to a slow start. The Huskies missed their first
10 shots and trailed Stanford 5-2 before freshman Mosqueda-Lewis took
over. She made a driving layup 6 minutes into the game for UConn's
first basket.
She followed that up with a
3-pointer as UConn went on an 8-0 run over the next 5 minutes.
After Stanford took a 21-19 lead on
Camp's jumper, Lewis and Hartley combined for all the points during a
13-2 burst. Lewis capped the run with a 3-pointer. UConn led 32-26 at
the break.
She finished with 19 points at the
half and Hartley had 11. The two were 12 for 18 while the rest of the
Huskies were 0 for 17. Lewis had 25 points in UConn's win over Pacific.
Ogwumike picked up two quick fouls
and played just six minutes in the first half.
Both teams honored Oklahoma State
coach Kurt Budke and his assistant Miranda Serna who were killed in a
plane crash Thursday night. UConn players wore an Oklahoma State logo
above the Nike swoosh on their jersey and Stanford players wore orange
shoelaces and ribbons in their hair. Both coaching staffs also had
orange ribbons on in support. There was a moment of silence before the
game.
Stanford freshman Alex Green will
miss the rest of the season with a ruptured left Achilles tendon. She
was injured late Friday during practice and didn't travel to
Connecticut. The Cardinal were also missing junior Mikaela Ruef, who
was sidelined with quad injury.
Pacific
warm up for big
trees? Not really, but a super show!
http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/w-baskbl/recaps/111511aaa.html
Huskies have no
trouble; Women roll to
victory in their season opener
DAY
By PAT EATON-ROBB Associated Press
Article published Nov 14, 2011
Storrs - The graduation of Maya
Moore means UConn no longer has that one go-to player. But the Huskies still have weapons.
Bria Hartley scored 17 points
and Tiffany Hayes added 16 as No. 4 UConn opened its season, and the
post-Moore era, with a 77-37 rout of Holy Cross on Sunday. Stephanie Dolson added 12 points and
seven rebounds for the Huskies (1-0), who extended their home winning
streak to an NCAA-record 84 games.
"We do have enough guys that
can help us on any given day, but instead of it being the way it was,
it's just going to be a little bit different," coach Geno Auriemma
said. "Those 50 points might be spread out among three or four people
this year instead of just one or two, which I think, in the end, might
make us a better team."
Brisje Malone, Alex Smith and
Amy Lemply each had eight points for Holy Cross (0-2), which lost its
second consecutive game in Connecticut after dropping its season opener
Friday at Yale, 76-71.
UConn held Holy Cross to 23 percent
shooting, including 18 percent in the first half as the Huskies jumped
out to a 32-6 lead.
The Crusaders played without
center Emily Parker, who scored 17 against Yale but was held out of
this one as a precaution to rest a knee she injured in the preseason.
"I really thought we
competed," said Holy Cross coach Bill Gibbons. "The Parker kid didn't
play and I think she would have helped us. But I would have been stupid
to play her against these type of athletes, and the doctor and I talked
about that."
The Huskies opened with a 9-0
run while forcing Holy Cross to miss its first six shots. The
Crusaders' first field goal came 6 minutes in on a 3-pointer by former
Westerly High School standout Meredith Ward that made it 12-4.
Heather Buck, the former
Stonington High standout, scored six points and Ward finished with five
points.
UConn's Caroline Doty, who
sat out last season with her third major knee injury, scored nine
points and played 22 minutes in her first game back since the 2010
national championship game. She received a medical red shirt last year
and has played in just 57 of the 117 games since arriving in Storrs in
2008. Doty missed her first two shots, but made consecutive 3-pointers
to give UConn a 24-6 lead.
"It felt great just to hear
the crowd go crazy," she said. "It just felt great to be back. We were
just having so much fun on the court together again, and today was a
reason to show why I love basketball so much. It was just great."
Freshman reserve Kaleena
Mosqueda-Lewis had seven points and seven rebounds in her first college
game, and her driving layup and free throw highlighted a 16-0
first-half run.
"I actually wasn't really
nervous, which is pretty unusual for me," she said. "Usually, in first
games, I'm pretty nervous, but it wasn't that bad."
Holy Cross closed the half
with a 10-2 run of its own to make it 38-17 at intermission. Dolson, who hit all six of her shots,
scored six of the Huskies' first nine points in the second half and
UConn extended its lead to 26 and went on to the rout.
"I think we played great
defense, we really got in the passing lanes," she said. "When the
second half came, we really picked it up. We rebounded the ball. We got
a lot more steals, and we just played really well on defense."
UConn committed 15 turnovers,
but forced Holy Cross into 17.
UConn last lost at home in
the 2007 Big East tournament championship game to Rutgers. The NCAA
counts games played in the postseason in Hartford and Storrs as home
games for the Huskies. The
Huskies are now 26-1 under Auriemma in home openers, and 22-4 in
season-opening games. UConn
also improved to 20-2 against Holy Cross and has won the last 19
meetings.
Parker played 10 minutes
against Yale and was the team's leading scorer with 17 points, hitting
eight of 11 shots, but Gibbons said he didn't want to risk further
injury by having her play against the Huskies.
Gibbons needs just four wins to
reach 500 for his career.
Original notes
from August 31, 2011 at 1:04 pm from Rich Elliott
Here It
Is … UConn’s 2011-12 Schedule on TV...we know
now which will be on CPTV - those not specifically
marked "CPTV," which are all "away" games, will probably be offered in
CPTV but will most likely be the "home" team coverage, but not
always! Games yet
to be played are in BOLD.
Italic = away.
Below is the 2011-12 UConn women’s basketball schedule …
Nov. 3 vs. Assumption
(exhibition) at Gampel Pavilion, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 9 vs. Pace (exhibition) at
XL Center, 7 p.m.
Nov. 13 vs. Holy Cross at
Gampel Pavilion, 2 p.m.
Nov. 15 vs. Pacific at Gampel
Pavilion, 7:30 p.m.
Nov.
21 vs.
Stanford at XL Center, 7:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Nov. 25
World Vision Classic vs. Fairleigh Dickinson at Gampel
Pavilion, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 26 World Vision Classic vs. Buffalo at Gampel Pavilion, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 27 World Vision Classic vs. Dayton at Gampel Pavilion, 4:30 p.m.
Nov. 30 vs. Towson at XL Center, 7 p.m.
Dec. 6 Jimmy V
Classic vs. Texas A&M at XL Center, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Dec. 9 at
Seton Hall, TBA (on
CPTV)
Dec. 18
at Baylor,
8:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Dec. 21 at College of Charleston, CPTV
Dec. 29 vs. Fairfield at
Gampel Pavilion, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 4 vs. West Virginia at
XL Center, 7 p.m.
Jan. 7 at Notre
Dame, 4 p.m. (CBS)
Jan. 10 vs. Providence at XL
Center, 7 p.m.
Jan. 14 at Villanova, TBA
Jan. 16 vs. North
Carolina at Gampel Pavilion, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Jan. 19 vs. Cincinnati at Gampel Pavilion, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 21 at DePaul, TBA
Jan. 25 at Syracuse, TBA
Jan. 28 vs. South Florida at
XL Center, 1 p.m.
Jan. 30 at Duke, 7
p.m. (ESPN2)
Feb. 4 vs. Rutgers at Gampel Pavilion, TBA
Feb. 7 at
Louisville, TBA (CBSSN)
Feb. 11 vs.
Georgetown at Gampel Pavilion, TBA (SNY)
Feb. 13 at
Oklahoma, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
Feb. 18 vs. St. John’s at Gampel Pavilion, TBA
Feb. 21 at Pittsburgh, TBA
Feb. 25 at Marquette, TBA
Feb. 27 vs. Notre
Dame at XL Center, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
March 2-6 Big East tournament at XL Center, TBD
There will never be another Maya Moore at UCONN. Maybe we'll have
to make do with the likes of KML...
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE TO THE
2011-2012 UCONN HUSKIES TEAM?
Winning is the way to avoid getting eaten? Winning is the
best way to get to the top?
UCONN GRADS ROLL
DON'T
FORGET GREAT PLAYERS NOT WITH NCAA RINGS...Charde, Mel, Barb, SO MANY
OTHERS!!!
The inbetween years: Diana's 3 NCAA Championship teams and Maya's
2 NCAA Championship teams...memorable and always just a bit missing je
ne sais quoi
Thanks,
HUSKIES, for an unforgettable 90 game win streak and 2 national titles
and great videos
FINAL
FOUR IN INDIANAPOLIS...thank you Maya and Lorin for 4 great seasons,
and...wait 'til next year!!!
End of an era in
Indy: NCAA Championships
By Vickie Fulkerson Day Sports Writer
Article
published Apr 4, 2011
Indianapolis - It was odd, sure,
when UConn and Notre Dame were matched up in the national semifinals
exactly 10 years after the last time they met in that game.
That was 2001, the year Notre
Dame won the national championship. UConn beat Notre Dame for the Big
East Conference tournament title that year, too, before succumbing at
the Final Four in St. Louis.
But, as it turned out Sunday night
at Conseco Fieldhouse, the return engagement was much more than a
coincidence.
Notre Dame, the team UConn
had beaten three times before during the 2011 season, is going to the
national championship game again, ending the Huskies quest for a third
straight title and capping one of the finest careers in women's
basketball history, that of UConn's Maya Moore.
The Fighting Irish, who
willed themselves to a Final Four in their home state of Indiana -
beating two of the top seeds in the NCAA tournament along the way -
toppled UConn 72-63 in what was Moore's fourth straight Final Four
appearance.
"It's never easy when you
don't win your last game because that's kind of the thing you remember
going out on," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "I know how difficult it
is for Maya and Lorin (Dixon) and I just wanted to remind them in the
locker room when they were freshman the same thing happened, but what
happened in between is something only the really, really fortunate can
ever experience.
"That's what I'm going to
choose to focus on."
Moore finished with 36
points, giving her 3,036 for her career, but the Huskies (36-2) were
plagued by fouls, rendering freshman center Stefanie Dolson ineffective.
And junior guard Tiffany
Hayes scored just two baskets, with freshman Bria Hartley (10 points),
the only one providing much help for Moore.
Notre Dame (31-7) will meet
Texas A&M in the championship game at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night.
Texas A&M defeated another top seed in the first semifinal game
Sunday, upsetting Stanford 63-62.
It was UConn's first loss
since falling to Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., on Dec. 30, and only
the fourth of Moore's distinguished career.
"I'm not going to let her be
defined by what happened tonight," Auriemma said.
It was another star,
sophomore All-American Skylar Diggins, though, who stole the show
against UConn, finishing with 28 points. Natalie Novosel added 22 for
the Irish, who outscored a clearly flustered UConn team 46-31 in the
second half after the Huskies led by six at halftime (32-26).
UConn, down 12 late in the
game, got back within three on a 3-pointer by Moore with 2:25
remaining, but Novosel came right back with a jump shot and Diggins
drove for a layup to tip the momentum back in Notre Dame's favor.
Moore, who finished 14-for-30
shooting, scored the final 16 points for UConn.
"I was just trying to attack,
trying to score," she said. "I'm going to choose to remember the great
things, but this is the current taste in my mouth right now. Notre Dame
came to win. Every single person they brought in did everything single
thing they could do."
One of only seven players in
Division I history to reach the 3,000-point plateau and the only one
ever to win the Wade Trophy as the national player of the year three
times, Moore had 15 points at halftime. She went 1-for-7 to start, then
hit her next three. She hit a fallaway shot with 1:19 to go in the
half, then, following a UConn timeout, assisted on a layup by Faris
that gave the Huskies a 32-26 lead at the break.
In the second half, things
got considerably worse for UConn. After Moore scored to put the Huskies
up eight, they started misfiring. And fouling.
The Irish executed three
three-point plays in the first seven minutes and took the lead at 38-37
on a layup by Becca Bruszewski, assisted by Diggins. UConn's Dolson was
forced back to the bench by picking up her fourth foul with 14:00 to go
and the Huskies had eight team fouls by the 11:38 mark.
By the time Novosel hit a
3-pointer to give Notre Dame a 55-47 lead with 7:35 to go, prompting a
UConn timeout, the Irish had outscored UConn 29-13.
In the end, the Irish proved
that one win at the Final Four was greater than UConn's three prior to
that point.
v.fulkerson@theday.com
Thank you, Maya, for
much more than two national championships
Mike DiMauro, New London DAY
Article
published Apr 4, 2011
Indianapolis - It would have been
nice, sure, to have a few days of three-peat talk. Not to mention the
opportunity to be the center of the sports universe for a few days, all
Connecticut, all the time: men, women and song.
So maybe Geno Auriemma was right
when he used the term vulnerable. Plenty of time to dissect Notre Dame
72, UConn 63 in the coming days. And while the final score told a
depressing tale Sunday night at Conseco Fieldhouse, it was an
irrelevant detail in framing Maya Moore's place in the pantheon of
prominence in the nation's No. 1 program.
A big part of Maya Moore's life
suddenly announced "here I am on the final day," Sunday night, despite
her Maya-esque 36 points. And the Herculean attempt to summarize what
she's done and what she's stood for is almost fruitless. Almost.
Because maybe we can start here with Geno Auriemma:
"When I think of Maya Moore," he
said, "I'll think about the greatest player in the history of the Big
East, maybe the best student-athlete in the history of college
basketball. I'm not going to let it be defined by what happened
tonight."
And one last thing for Maya Moore:
Thank you.
Thank you, Maya, for things well
beyond the Final Fours and national championships. Thank you for
bringing some civility back to sports.
You remember civility? It went out
somewhere around the time the hula hoop did. We know the drill in
sports now, where so many combatants dream up ways to celebrate before
they work on their craft. Acts of self-indulgence are defended - aw,
come on, let these guys have a little fun - making it impossible to
hear the truth above the roar.
Then there's Maya Moore.
Seriously. This was a kid at the top
of the game from the time she arrived. Did she ever, once, call
attention to herself? Gyrate unnecessarily? Did she ever mug for the
cameras? Maya Moore was like good jazz: smooth, graceful, understated.
Moore spent the past two weeks
getting showered with hosannas. This award, that award. Associated
Press, State Farm, Lowe's, Wade Trophy. Moore deflected every bon mot,
as if she stood in the passing lane and needed the steal.
It was her teammates.
It was Geno Auriemma. It was the
other coaches.
It was exactly how you are supposed
to act. Maya Moore illustrated that when you are really good, others
will do the talking for you.
Moore always gave thoughtful answers
to questions, even questions that extended beyond basketball. There was
no "give the other team credit" and "it really helped our confidence"
or "we brought our 'A' game." When the question was asked, there was
almost always a pause before something pithy.
Quite the change from other athletes
who think with their mouths or spew clichés like Guinness in an
Irish bar.
Thank you, Maya, for all that.
Thank you for showing there's still
hope even in this NCAA cesspool. And haven't all the stories emanating
from Auburn and Ohio State and Nate Miles been so inspiring lately? You
go ahead and kill women's basketball all you want. But it had Maya
Moore the last four years and that meant it was a better game than
yours for reasons many of you wouldn't understand.
Just when you thought there were no
more awards for Moore to win, there she was at halftime of the Texas
A&M-Stanford semifinal Sunday night. Moore was presented the "Elite
88" award for having the highest cumulative grade-point average of any
other student-athlete in the Final Four.
All this and she went to school, too.
Education is part of the college
athletic experience, in case you're wondering. Maya Moore (and her
teammates) prove it. Every year. Just because we allow the non-thinkers
out there to spew their absorbing "who cares" on the subject of
academic achievement for athletes doesn't mean education isn't
necessary and relevant.
And so Moore's career ended two wins
short of three rings. But her time here will grow and bloom in all of
us who enjoyed watching her, all of us who were along for the ride,
from Tampa to St. Louis to San Antone to Indy and so many other ports
along the way.
The 2011 season will be dissected
more today and in the coming days. But Moore's legacy is beyond the
outcome of a game. Maya Moore always said and did the right thing. She
was a welcome change to sports. Now she brings it to the WNBA.
This is the
opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.
ELITE
EIGHT, ALSO IN PHILADELPHIA, GOES SWIMMINGLY - 3000
POINTS FOR MAYA NOW HISTORY.
On to the Final Four -
read these stories on the Elite Eight with the words and music of "Oh,
what a night..." by the Four Seasons in the background - Duke OK but UCONN was on!!!
Moore scores 28 as
Huskies blitz Duke to reach 12th Final Four
Publication:
The Day
By Vickie Fulkerson
Published 03/30/2011 12:00 AM
Updated 03/30/2011 04:58 AM
Philadelphia - First, UConn was on the national stage this season, all
eyes on the Huskies as they won their 90th straight game, insinuating
themselves into the realm of TV and radio sports talk, newspapers,
blogs and dinner conversations.
Then the UConn women's basketball
team lost to Stanford in December, a player transferred, one got hurt
and the Huskies were down to eight players, six of whom made it onto
the floor in the Big East tournament championship game just a few weeks
ago. But that
certainly wasn't all she wrote for the two-time defending national
champion. UConn made
the headlines again Tuesday night at the Liacouras Center on the campus
of Temple University, drilling Duke 75-40 in the Philadelphia Regional
final to reach its fourth straight Final Four.
"Sometimes, you just have a group of
players that you're coaching that everything falls into place, somehow,
some way," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said after the victory.
"It feels better," freshman center
Stefanie Dolson said. "Better than I thought."
Top-seeded UConn (36-1), which was
facing No. 2 Duke for the second time this season, will play Big East
foe Notre Dame in the national semifinals next Sunday in Indianapolis.
The Huskies earned a Final Four berth for the 12th time in program
history and are looking for their eighth national championship, which
would tie them with Tennessee for the most titles all-time.
Maya Moore, named an Associated
Press All-American for the fourth time earlier in the day, finished
with 28 points, 10 rebounds and seven steals, being named the
regional's Most Outstanding Player. She was joined on the
all-tournament team by UConn's Lorin Dixon and Bria Hartley, as well as
Duke's Jasmine Thomas and Karima Christmas.
Moore also became the seventh player
in Division I women's basketball history to reach the 3,000-point mark,
hitting a jump shot with 3 minutes, 44 seconds remaining and igniting
the crowd of 4,319 fans, nearly all of whom rose to their feet to mark
the occasion. UConn
beat Duke in a regular-season matchup at Gampel Pavilion by a score of
87-51 on Jan. 31, with Moore scoring 29. Prior to that game Duke was
unbeaten and ranked third in the nation.
This game started at a slower pace,
with UConn leading just 23-20 with 3:37 to go before halftime. Actually, it was too quick a pace, with
the Huskies rushing their game to get to Indianapolis.
"You're like a little kid going to
the shore," said Auriemma, who grew up in Philadelphia and is now
undefeated in his home city at 6-0, also winning the 2000 national
title here. "As soon as you get on the parkway, you start jumping up
and down in the back seat."
UConn hit the last seven points
before halftime, though, including a shot by Moore at the buzzer. Moore
got the ball with about three seconds remaining in the right corner,
but stayed calm, took one step past her defender and fired to push the
lead to 30-20. The
second half is when the Huskies went full throttle toward Indy. They outscored Duke 22-3 to start the
half, with the Blue Devils (32-4) being held without a field goal for
8:18 until Richa Jackson scored off a UConn turnover with 9:59 to go.
By the time the game ended, UConn won by nearly as many points as it
did the first time it met Duke.
"This was not a good game for us
today," Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "I think the difference was
obviously their speed and we didn't come out like we needed to come
out. Frankly, offensively we were just horrible."
"To do it in the manner they did it
and to beat a really, really, really good team, there's something
special about this group and what they were able to persevere through,"
Auriemma said.
Hartley finished with 14 points, six
rebounds and six assists for UConn and Dolson had 12 points and six
rebounds. Tiffany Hayes added 11 points and five assists and Kelly
Faris, going back to her native Indiana for the Final Four, six points,
eight rebounds and six assists.
ELSBERRY Magical
Maya gives us more special memories
CT POST
Updated 12:10 a.m., Wednesday, March 30, 2011
PHILADELPHIA -- The magic moment, a pull-up jumper from just to the
left of the free-throw line, was pure Maya. She cut across the lane,
moving toward the UConn bench, took the pass from Bria Hartley and
broke away from the defense of Jasmine Thomas. She took a step forward,
which forced Duke's Krystal Thomas to take an extra step back, leaving
the reigning queen of the college women's game wide open.
All it took was a flick of the wrist.
The UConn fans who came to the Liacouras Center Tuesday night, who had
been counting Moore's every point since the opening tip, stood up and
roared.
And roared. And roared.
No one, no men's or women's player, had ever scored 3,000 points at
Connecticut before. None had even come close. Nykesha Sales needed a
tainted basket to score 2,178 and finally pass Kerry Bascom. Tina
Charles didn't need any help in finishing with 2,346, but no one had
gotten close to sniffing the magic number known as 3,000.
Until Maya. Marvelous Maya. Magnificent Maya.
Maya the Great.
OK, so that might be going a little overboard, but hey, the day before,
Duke's head coach, Joanne P. McCallie called Moore "the best women's
player in the world." She might be right.
Now, Lady Diana may argue that comment ... but heck, Taurasi might not,
not after seeing Moore light up the Blue Devils for 28 points, 10
rebounds and seven steals in a 75-40 rout that put the Huskies in the
Final Four for the 12th time and earned her the Philadelphia Region's
Most Valuable Player award -- her fourth straight NCAA regional MVP
award.
"Maya is Maya ... she's amazing," Tiffany Hayes said.
Let's go ahead and toss incredible, stunning and whatever adjective you
want onto the accolades pile. Once again, Moore did everything she
possibly could to help the Huskies survive and advance in the NCAA
tournament.
She hit 12 of her 18 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers. She grabbed
10 boards -- her third straight double-double in the tournament -- and
she came up with seven steals, two blocks and one assist.
Numbers that just add to her legacy.
"Maya has all those things like Diana has," UConn coach Geno Auriemma
said when asked about the intangibles Moore brings to the table night
in and night out, as Taurasi did. "It just comes out in a different way
because she's a different person, wired differently than D. The end
results are exactly the same."
Aureimma said that Maya's got an "edge" to her that we rarely get to
see. She keeps it hidden, unlike Taurasi, who shouted it out to the
world every chance she got. But very much like Diana, when the game is
on the line, Moore also believes that there's no one, absolutely no
one, as good as she is on the court.
Against Duke, Moore was far and away the best player on the floor. She
scored the last five points of the first half, knocking down a 3 from
the top of the key and then beating the buzzer with an 18-footer from
the right baseline that sent the Huskies into the locker room with a
10-point cushion. And as UConn opened the second half with a 27-5 run
to blow the game open, it was Moore who scored 13 points, leaving her
two shy of 3,000 with 8:22 left.
And with 3:44 left, she got it, on that perfect jump-stop jumper.
"All the other players and coaches that impacted my game, I just hope
they can feel proud that they've helped me reach that (goal)," Moore
said.
Earlier in the day, Moore was named as a first-team All-American by the
Associated Press, becoming just the second player in history to be a
first-team selection four times. But numbers and records and awards and
all that hoopla don't mean squat to Moore if there's not a "W" attached
to it.
And she was determined to get the Huskies that W. Auriemma and
assistant coach Shea Ralph were talking in the pre-game and the two
just felt that Moore was going to have one of those "Maya" games. There
was a different feeling about her. A different swagger. Maybe a little
Taurasi moxie, a little Jen Rizzotti toughness.
Like there's no one better on the floor. And right now, there isn't.
Maya Has 3,000 And
One Big Miss
Courant.com
Jeff Jacobs
March 30, 2011
PHILADELPHIA — With 7:79 remaining
Tuesday night at Lacouras Center, she banged knees with a Duke player,
she thought it was Karima Christmas. And later, when this Elite Eight
rout of Duke was finished, Maya Moore could joke with her coach how it
happened executing a rare back cut.
"Since Maya back-cuts so
infrequently, I questioned whether she banged her knee with her other
knee," Geno Auriemma said after UConn rolled into its 12th Final Four
with a 75-40 victory. "She's not used to that move. She assured me it
was someone else's knee."
Moore would drop to the floor,
grimacing. All of Connecticut would gasp. None of Connecticut would
exhale until she got up and ran back to the UConn huddle. Less than
three minutes later, the possibility of a third successive national
championship and a trip to Indianapolis already assured, Moore would
trot back onto the court.
Auriemma said he hates all the
newfangled statistical technology. In the old days, he said he never
would have known Moore had 2,998 career points.
"When Maya came out, the first thing
everybody on the bench started yelling was she needs two more points,"
Auriemma said. "I don't care. But I think it was Chris Dailey who said,
'Let's get it over, so we don't have to talk about it all week and
worry about it next weekend.'"
"I asked Maya if she was sure she
wanted to play. She said yes. Maya, typical drama queen, as soon as she
knocked in the bucket she points to her knee, take me out."
Women's college basketball history
will record that a sweet jumper with 3:44 remaining — aren't all of her
jumpers sweet? — made Moore only the seventh player in women's Division
I basketball to score 3,000 points. The UConn fans among the crowd of
4,319 gave her a standing ovation.
"First and foremost, Maya is a
scoring machine," Auriemma said. "She puts points on the board every
way you can imagine. It's remarkable. Not four Final Fours, not two
national championships, but 3,000 points? Kids just don't do that at
UConn: 2,000 yeah, but 3,000 is hard to imagine."
Yet here's the thing. Not one of
those 3,000 points was scored against Tennessee. Not one of Moore's
3,000 points came against the most decorated women's program in college
history. Not one against UConn's archrival and the coach who wanted her
so badly that she would reduce herself to making petty accusations of
Auriemma's integrity and continue the assault for more than two years.
Sure, a back-cut momentarily had
Connecticut scared that Moore might miss the fourth meeting of this
season with Notre Dame in the Final Four. But a back stab is a reason
why the most storied rivalry in women's sports will forever lack a Maya
Moore chapter. And that's pathetic. Summitt can always say Maya Moore,
the most gifted player in UConn history, never beat her once. That's
because she was too cowardly to schedule her and, Auriemma would point,
something more ….
"If Maya was supposed to play them,
we would play them," Auriemma said. "We had a chance last year to play
them and we had a chance this year to play them and it didn't work out.
The object of playing at Connecticut is to play against the best teams
in the country.
"Maya has done that."
You could run that "ouch" up Rocky
Top. By losing to
Notre Dame in the Elite Eight, Tennessee wasn't good enough to play
UConn Sunday. It happened last year. And the year before that, too.
"I can't say I missed it, because I
was never part of that history of the game," Moore said. "We've had a
lot of battles with Rutgers in our conference, Notre Dame, Stanford.
There are other teams that have challenged us. They're really tough to
play against. They are the ones we're focused, the rivalries in and
outside the conference."
Duke started out playing better than
in its disastrous 36-point loss at Gampel Pavilion on Jan. 31,
especially on the boards. UConn was rushing things. With little more
than two minutes left in the first half, the Blue Devils were behind
only three. Then it fell apart. They shot 25 percent for the game.
UConn shot 72 percent in the second half. Not quick enough. Not good
enough. Now, only
Stanford looks good enough. With Britney Griner, Baylor looked good
enough. Well, Baylor lost to Texas A&M on Tuesday night. Baylor
wasn't good enough, either.
"What elephant?" Auriemma answered
when asked about the elephant in the room known as Tennessee. "I don't
wish anything on anybody. We're playing who we're supposed to be
playing.
"I don't miss it at all."
I do.
I miss the chance for me — or
someone — to ask Pat Summitt in front of the Final Four why she said
what she said last October. When she would say at SEC media day that
she had never compromised at all and if she did Tennessee should fire
her. Why she then went on the radio and said she wasn't talking about
men's coach Bruce Pearl, who subsequently was fired, and said: "I
wasn't even talking about Bruce Pearl. It never entered my mind. … I
was talking about the women's game. I probably had Connecticut on my
mind. There's a reason we don't play them."
That Summitt pulled out of the
rivalry with UConn is old news. That 11 accusations surfaced after a
Freedom of Information request by ESPN and 10 were rejected by the NCAA
also is old news. We're talking about Caroline Doty eating Wendy's with
Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird in Auriemma's office. We're talking about
homemade signs given to recruits at First Night. The one that stuck in
a 34-page document was a secondary violation. UConn made reservations
for Maya Moore to take a tour of ESPN. A tour that's open to the public.
For this, the greatest player in
UConn history finishes her career, scores 3,000 points, without the
chance to play in the greatest rivalry in women's sports. Yet by virtue
of her team not being good enough, Summitt also escapes answering why
she is so bent on ruining Auriemma's career. A career that could see
him tie Summitt next week with an eighth national championship.
UConn roll past Duke
Duke stayed with UConn a little bit
longer but in the end, the result was the same.
New Haven REGISTER
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
After losing to the Huskies by 36
during the regular season, Duke fell by 35 in Tuesday's Philadelphia
Regional final.
Maya Moore, who by her standards,
had been a little off in the last couple of the game was absolutely
brilliant and her 28 points allowed her to finish the game with exactly
3,000 points.
"The way we came out, we all played
together I couldn't have asked for more," said Moore, who added seven
steals and 10 rebounds (tying Rebecca Lobo for second on UConn's
all-time list). "This is exactly where we've prepared ourselves to be."
Duke, which fell behind 23-2 in the
regular-season meeting between the teams, actually hung with the
Huskies for a while. It was 23-20 with 3:37 to play before UConn ended
the first half on a 7-0 run and had a 22-3 run in the second half.
All that was left was to see if
Moore could become the seventh Division I women's player during the
NCAA error to score 3,000 points,
She had 26 when she banged her knee
against the thigh of a Duke defender. Moore grimaced for a few seconds
before leaping to her feet and running off the court with
7:39 to play. She was able to return
to the game and hit the magic number with 3:45 left to play.
"I knew, I couldn't help it because
other people tell me," Moore said. "I wasn't keeping track during the
game but when I hit it, I felt it was close. When my
teammates starting tackling me, I am
just glad we played well."
UConn advances to meet Big East
rival Notre Dame in Sunday's national semifinal. It will be the fourth
meeting of the season between the teams, something that never happened
before in UConn's illustrious history.
Notre Dame defeated Tennessee
meaning that Moore will go her entire career without playing against
the Lady Volunteers since Tennessee coach Pat Summitt cancelled the
regular-season series with UConn
over what she perceived to be the Huskies' illegal recruitment of Moore.
"I love playing great teams and good
competition," Moore said. "I do have some friends on that team if they
could have pulled it out. It's not in our hands, we are
just going to be ready to play
whoever wins and advances."
Confident and Calm,
Moore Leads the Huskies
By JERÉ LONGMAN, NYTIMES
March 29, 2011
PHILADELPHIA — With a 75-40 victory
over Duke, Connecticut again turned the N.C.A.A. women’s tournament
into a personal game of Monopoly, earning another title deed to the
Final Four in pursuit of a third consecutive national championship. It
is an achievement that Geno Auriemma calls “99 percent Maya Moore and
one percent coaching.”
The Huskies (36-1) advanced to the
national semifinals in Indianapolis on Sunday to face Big East rival
Notre Dame for the fourth time this season.
Two of those games were decided by
fewer than 10 points, which gives the Irish some encouragement but also
means that Moore would certainly have the ball in her hands in any
tense, final moments, when she is unmatched in calm reliability.
“She is the greatest women’s
basketball player alive today,” Joanne P. McCallie, Duke’s coach, said
before the 6-foot Moore, a senior and two-time national player of the
year, delivered 28 points, 10 rebounds and 7 steals Tuesday in the
final of the Philadelphia Region.
After bruising her left knee while
colliding with a Duke player with 7 minutes 39 seconds remaining, Moore
briefly rode a stationary bike, then returned for a final basket that
made her only the seventh women’s player in N.C.A.A. Division I to
score 3,000 points in a career.
On Tuesday, Moore also became the
only women’s player other than Courtney Paris, formerly of Oklahoma, to
be named a four-time all-American by The Associated Press.
“It stung a little,” Moore said of
her knee, but added that she was fine. “I’m not worried about it.”
McCallie’s effusive, if slightly
overgenerous, praise was given in regard to Moore’s unerring
dedication; the quick release on her fluid and vaulting jump shot; her
ability to keep UConn nearly perfect on a team with a freshman point
guard, a freshman center and only one dependable player off the bench;
and her poise in yearning to win close games instead of shrinking from
the possibility of defeat.
“She really stepped up and became
the all-American that she is this year when she had to put this team on
her back,” Georgetown Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said Sunday after
Moore scored 10 of UConn’s final 13 points as the Huskies rallied for a
68-63 victory in the regional semifinals.
Is Moore the best women’s basketball
player? At the collegiate level, she is by wide acclaim. But is Moore
better than Diana Taurasi, who has won three national championships at
UConn, two W.N.B.A. titles with Phoenix and a pair of Olympic gold
medals?
It is a question that even the
terminally candid Auriemma answers with a verbal tap dance.
He points out that Moore and Taurasi
have little in common except confidence, resilience, toughness and a
birthday — June 11. Moore is quiet, Taurasi is brash. Moore is a
forward, Taurasi is a guard who, by virtue of her position, controls
the ball and can more vigorously orchestrate a game.
“One’s shy, reserved, the other’s
outspoken, irreverent,” Auriemma said. “One had the ball in her hands
all the time and told you what she was going to do before she did it
and then told you afterwards ‘See?’ The other one just goes about what
she does without a lot of fanfare. The sameness is that they are
unbelievable competitors. The two of them didn’t think there was any
play they couldn’t make. And if the game was on the line, they were
going to make it.”
Chris Dailey, UConn’s associate head
coach, also avoids the Moore-Taurasi parlor game, except to note that,
“Diana saw things that were about to happen, what the next play needed
to be, and could manipulate the situation to get people in the right
positions.”
Moore and the former Tennessee star
Candace Parker “don’t have that,” Dailey said. “A lot of it is
positional. But that’s what makes what Maya has done so amazing. She
doesn’t have the ball in her hands all the time but is still able to
dominate the game.”
Moore is 150-3 in her brilliant
UConn career. Yet her natural introspection does not make her a
conventional leader. She can be so unassuming that the team forgot her
when leaving a restaurant last season in Louisville.
“It’s hard for her to look outside
of herself,” Auriemma said. “So she leads by example: When we need a
rebound, I’ll get one. When we need a score, I’ll score. When we need a
steal, I’ll get a steal. That’s different from Tom Brady going in the
huddle and saying, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’ ”
Statistics alone do not fully
describe Moore’s dependability. Rather, it is her unyielding
consistency in a game’s decisive moments: A late steal that provided a
1-point victory over DePaul in her freshman season. The scoring of 18
of her 23 points in the second half of the 2010 N.C.A.A. championship
game as UConn erased a 20-12 deficit against Stanford. Her rescuing
flurry Sunday against Georgetown on an otherwise meager 7-for-20
afternoon.
“It’s a combination of not giving up
and continuing to believe that your shots are going to go in,” Moore
said.
Auriemma describes this as her
certainty that the final five minutes of a game will go perfectly even
if the previous 35 have not.
“All great competitors have this
tremendous belief in themselves that’s unshakable,” he said. “In
practice, when Maya makes shots that no one else could make, she thinks
those are ordinary. When she’s missing shots, she does what most great
players do, she blames the ball. It’s like a golfer who blames his
nine-iron for the fact that he hit it in the water.”
Finally, there is a distaste for
losing as if defeat were a poison, said Dailey, the associate head
coach. She told about a recent day when Moore lost a classroom
“Jeopardy”-style contest and a puzzle game played by the team.
“Ruined her whole day,” Dailey said.
“The more I teased her, the madder she got.”
Huskies Hammer Duke,
Headed Back To The Final Four
March 29, 2011 at 10:56 pm by Rich Elliott, CT POST
Just showing up for the games this season was not enough. The UConn
women’s basketball team was not viewed as the same invincible machine
it had been over the past two seasons. The top-ranked Huskies
still featured Maya Moore, the top player in the nation. Yet, they also
featured four freshmen and a sophomore. Roles had to be defined.
Confidence had to be gained.
In the end, this blue-collar team found what it was looking for in one
another and in the season. UConn has once again navigated its way to
the grand stage. Moore had 28 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high
seven steals Tuesday to lead the Huskies to their fourth straight trip
to the Final Four with a 75-40 win over No. 6 Duke in the NCAA
Philadelphia regional final before 4,319 at the Liacouras Center.
“It’s really special,’’ Moore said. “This is sometimes the toughest
game to play just to get into the Final Four. And the way that we came
out, the way that we all played together, kept our cool and everybody
playing well. I couldn’t have asked for more. And this is exactly where
we’ve prepared ourselves to be.’’
It is UConn’s 12th Final Four appearance overall and its 11th since
1994-95.
Moore, who recorded her third straight double-double, was named the
regional Most Outstanding Player for the fourth straight season. She
also became the seventh player in Division I history to reach 3,000
points (3,000). The Huskies (36-1) have advanced to the Final
Four in four straight seasons for the second time in history.
“I think this is one of the best ones we’ve had so far in terms of it
being the hardest,’’ junior Tiffany Hayes said. “It’s just good to see
Lorin (Dixon) and Maya be able to get to their fourth straight one. And
hopefully we can get there and get the job done.’’
UConn will meet No. 9 Notre Dame (30-7) in the national semifinals
Sunday at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis (9 p.m.). The Huskies have
defeated Notre Dame three times this season, including a 73-64 win in
the Big East tournament final March 8 at the XL Center.
“Contrary to what people think, I have a very stable view of myself and
my team, and we’re very realistic,’’ UConn coach Geno Auriemma said.
“But one thing is the absolute truth. There’s only one team playing
right now that knows how to win a national championship. So when things
have to get done, they know how to get them done.’’
With the UConn men heading to Houston, it is the ninth time in NCAA
history that a school has sent both teams to the Final Four in the same
season. The Huskies won dual national championships in 2004. Bria
Hartley added 14 points, six rebounds and six assists for UConn.
Stefanie Dolson had 12 points and six rebounds. Hayes had 11 points and
five assists.
Hartley and Dixon were named to the all-regional team. Jasmine Thomas
and Karima Christmas of Duke were also honored. The Huskies shot
59.3 percent from the field as Moore and Lorin Dixon joined Diana
Taurasi, Maria Conlon and Morgan Valley as the only four-year players
at UConn to go to the Final Four four times in their career.
“I feel blessed to have such great teammates around me, a coaching
staff that is so experienced and knows exactly how to prepare us for
each section of the season,’’ Moore said. “This one is I think the
sweetest just because it’s been the most challenging and a lot more
doubts in the air.’’
Thomas led Duke with 17 points (7-of-22 FG), six rebounds, four assists
and three steals. The Blue Devils (32-4) shot 25.4 percent from the
field. Duke actually provide some resistance at points during the
first half. The Blue Devils trailed 23-20 with 3:39 left in the
half. But the Huskies generated a 7-0 run to open a 10-point lead
at halftime. Moore capped the run with a baseline jumper at the buzzer.
Moore followed by scoring eight points in the first 5:40 of the second
half as UConn used a 22-3 run to open a 52-23 lead with 10:35
left. The Blue Devils went without a field goal for 8:15.
“All year has been a struggle, but our team just came together,’’
Dolson said. “And to be here in the tournament and make it this far to
the Final Four, it just feels amazing. You can’t describe how great you
felt and realizing in the last minute we were going to win. We were
going to the Final Four.’’
UConn women roll
into the Final four
New London DAY
Article published Mar 29, 2011
Philadelphia
- UConn outscored Duke 45-20 in the second half, pulling away for a
75-40 victory in the NCAA women's basketball tournament Philadelphia
Regional final Tuesday night.
Maya Moore scored 28, had 10 rebounds and seven steals for UConn
(36-1). Bria Hartley had 14 points and Stefanie Dolson had 12 points
and six rebounds for UConn. Jasmine Thomas scored 17 for Duke (32-4).
UConn
now two wins away from third straight championship
Associated Press
29 March 2011
PHILADELPHIA -- Make it one more
Final Four for Maya Moore and Connecticut. Moore had 28 points, including the
3,000th of her career, to lead top-seed UConn to a 75-40 win over Duke
on Tuesday night
The Huskies are two victories away
from winning their third straight national championship, mathcing the
school's own run from 2002-04 and Tennessee's from 1996-98.
Next up for coach Geno Auriemma's
latest juggernaut is Notre Dame on Sunday in the national semifinals in
Indianapolis. The two Big East teams are plenty familiar with each
other, having played three times this season already. UConn won all of
those matchups including a 73-64 victory in the Big East tournament
championship game.
Once again rural Storrs, Conn. is
the center of the college basketball world as both the men's and
women's teams are in the Final Four. It's the third time in the past
seven years that both programs have advanced this far with 2004
culminating in dual titles. Earlier in the day, Moore became only the
second four-time All-American. She was a unanimous choice for the third
straight year and has helped Connecticut to an unprecedented 149
victories in her stellar college career, while losing only three times.
Tuesday night she became only the
seventh D-I player to reach 3,000 points. Southwest Missouri State star
Jackie Stiles was the last in 2001.
Moore fell a bit short of achieving
the school's first triple-double since Laura Lishness had one in the
Big East tournament title game in 1989. Moore finished with 10 rebounds
and seven steals. Auriemma
continue his success in his hometown. The Hall of Fame coach made his
first Final Four in 1991 after playing at the regional at the Palestra.
In 2000, Auriemma's team won its second national championship here.
Now the Huskies (36-1) are back in
the Final Four for the fourth straight season and 12th time in the last
17 years.
The Blue Devils (32-4) faced
questions leading up to the game on what they'd do differently than
they did in a 36-point blowout loss to UConn on Jan. 31. In that game,
the Huskies delivered an early knockout blow, scoring 23 of the first
25 points.
On Tuesday night, UConn got off to
another quick start tallying 10 of the first 12 points. But this time
Duke survived the early flurry, rallying back behind Shay Selby and
Jasmine Thomas. Selby's
back-to-back 3-pointers cut the deficit to 17-14 midway through the
half. Duke still trailed by three before UConn threw the knockout
punch. The Huskies
scored the final seven points of the half, once again keyed by Moore.
She hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key and then ended the period
with a baseline jumper that made it 30-20.
Moore had 13 points, nine rebounds
and five steals by the break.
The Huskies scored 22 of the first
25 points in the second half to put the game away. Moore had six of the
nine points in the spurt, including an acrobatic tip-in off a missed
shot that made it 39-22 with 15:56 left.
Her jumper later in the burst gave
her 21 points and the Blue Devils still had 22. Moore broke the 3,000-point milestone on
a fouline jumper with 3:45 left in the game. The record basket was a
sigh of relief for Huskies fans as Moore had left the game a few
minutes earlier after hitting the floor hard. She slowly got up and
jogged over to the bench as Auriemma called time out.
After riding the stationary bike on
the sideline, Moore returned to get the milestone points. Thomas finished her stellar career at
Duke with an off-game. The senior guard had 17 points to lead Duke, but
was just 7 for 22 from the field. The Blue Devils were trying to complete a
sweep of the top two teams in the Big East conference. Duke knocked off
DePaul 70-63 in the regional semifinals.
Duke and Connecticut met once before
in the regional final when the Blue Devils came away with a 63-61
victory in 2006 before falling in the NCAA championship game to
Maryland. Monique
Currie, who played on that Duke team, was in the crowd Tuesday night
sitting behind the Blue Devils bench. She hit four key free throws down
the stretch to seal that victory over the Huskies.
It was the only previous NCAA
tournament meeting between the teams.
SWEET SIXTEEN IN PHILADELPHIA
("SIXTEEN" - LIKE THE NUMBER OF ALASKAN HUSKIES IN AN IDITAROD DOG
TEAM! WOOF!)
Leadership skills 101
Huskies show why they're Elite
Lineup change provides spark as UConn
rallies for victory
By Vickie Fulkerson Day Sports Writer
28 March 2011
Philadelphia - Geno Auriemma
often discusses the difference between "how to" and "when to." His
players know how to dribble, shoot, pass and rebound, but it's whether
they know when to make just the right play with the game on the line
that determines their legacies.
On Sunday, with a season
hanging in the balance in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament's
Philadelphia Regional, the "when to" was up to Auriemma, hall of fame
coach of the UConn women's basketball team.
UConn, the two-time defending
national champion, was trailing by seven points.
Georgetown senior Monica
McNutt, her program fighting the role of the underdog for the entire
NCAA tournament while in the Sweet 16 for just the first time since
1993, was camped on the perimeter firing in 3-pointers.
Then, with 11 minutes, 13
seconds remaining, Auriemma made the decision that would change the
course of the game, removing steady center Stefanie Dolson and choosing
to go with a smaller lineup that included sixth-man, senior guard Lorin
Dixon.
Dixon's energy ignited the
top-seeded Huskies, who toppled No. 5 Georgetown - a Big East
Conference opponent UConn was facing for the third time - 68-63 to
advance to Tuesday's night's regional final against No. 2 Duke.
"You just get this sense that
now's the time," Auriemma said of the change in strategy. "You don't
know if the decision you're making is any good or not. I felt
Georgetown was in too comfortable a rhythm.
"The way Lorin came in and played,
it changed the tone of the game. Everything changed."
Bria Hartley hit a 3-pointer
that pulled UConn (35-1) to within four at 53-49 and Auriemma called a
timeout with 8:19 to play. Coming out of the timeout, Dixon stole the
ball from Georgetown's Rubylee Wright at midcourt and beat her down the
floor for a layup.
Dixon stole the ball again
moments later and gave the ball to Hartley for a layup. That tied the
score at 53. And finally, one more steal by Dixon on Georgetown's next
possession resulted in her taking the shot from the left-hand corner
that gave UConn the lead for good.
Maya Moore finished with 23
points and 14 rebounds, including scoring 10 of the Huskies' last 13
points to seal the victory. Hartley had 17 rebounds and six assists,
Dolson 13 rebounds and Kelly Faris eight points, seven rebounds and
five assists. But it was some help from Dixon, the 5-foot-4 dervish who
finished with four points, four assists and four steals, that gave her
team momentum.
"We learned during the course
of the game what it takes to lose a game like that and what it takes to
win a game like that," Auriemma said. "We made some huge plays in the
last eight minutes."
Auriemma's message to his
team during one timeout: "'It's easy to be a winner when you're
winning.' … Today we found out a little bit about ourselves that we
didn't know we have."
McNutt finished with 17
points for Georgetown, hitting five 3-pointers, and despite leading
scorer Sugar Rodgers being held to 11 points overall, the Hoyas led
35-32 at halftime and continued to play like they were determined to
carry off an upset.
Georgetown, however, could
never get past that seven-point margin, with Rodgers missing a layup
that would have pushed the lead to nine with 10 minutes to go.
"When we were up by seven,
you got to put it up by 10, then you gotta put it up by 12," Georgetown
coach Terri-Williams Flournoy said. "… We knew that if we made shots,
we would have a great opportunity to beat Connecticut. There was just
one small segment where we didn't score and Connecticut continued to
score."
UConn won all three meetings
against Georgetown this season, but not one was easy, with the Hoyas
and their pressure defense forcing 65 turnovers in the three meetings.
Auriemma said at the point in
the game he removed Dolson, he didn't feel like there was a good
matchup for his center defensively and, since Georgetown was making it
difficult for her to catch the ball inside anyway, it was a good time
to switch things up.
UConn went on a 14-2 run with
the new look, taking a 59-53 lead on a pair of free throws by Moore.
"Personally, it's a great
feeling to play well," Dixon said. "As a whole, Maya and I decided we
didn't want our careers to end today. No one did. It's a great feeling
to come out on top today."
Erasing Her Own
Doubt, and a Deficit
By Jeré Longman, NYTIMES
March 27, 2011
PHILADELPHIA
Lorin Dixon arrived at Connecticut
four years ago out of Christ the King High School in Queens with high
hopes as a point guard and admittedly low self-assurance. Her career
has slapped back and forth like windshield wipers between confidence
and self-doubt.
Then, a month ago, the imminent
ending of her career brought clarity and resolve. “You either do it now
or you ain’t going to get a chance,” Dixon said the other day. “So why
not? You have nothing to lose.”
She is only 5 feet 4 inches, the
smallest player on UConn’s roster, but on Sunday, Dixon had the biggest
impact on a 68-63 victory over Georgetown in the semifinals of the
Philadelphia Region. It was a wild come-from-behind win, foiling what
would have been one of the biggest upsets in women’s N.C.A.A.
tournament history and demonstrating the Huskies’ fierce determination
to prevail.
Top-seeded UConn (35-1) will now
face second-seeded Duke (32-3) in the regional final Tuesday for a
chance to reach the Final Four and win a third consecutive national
championship. But that opportunity would have evaporated Sunday if not
for Dixon’s poise, quickness, defense and recovered self-belief.
With 9 minutes 36 seconds remaining,
Georgetown led, 53-46. The Hoyas (24-11) were facing the Huskies for
the third time since Feb. 26. They had no fear of their Big East
opponents and had apparent mastery, with tall and lean and mobile
players, 10 3-point shots, an unnerving trap defense and a vibrant zone
that kept UConn flailing from the perimeter on a 24-for-62 afternoon.
Dixon, UConn’s only substitute, had
entered the game nearly four minutes earlier with no immediate impact.
But with 11:13 remaining, Coach Geno Auriemma made a game-altering
decision.
At the urging of an assistant coach,
he sent the freshman point guard Bria Hartley back onto the floor and
removed the 6-5 freshman center Stefanie Dolson, who grabbed 13
rebounds but struggled to touch the ball inside Georgetown’s zone and
could not contain Tia Magee, a quicker and more nimble forward.
This left UConn with Maya Moore at
center and no player taller than 6 feet. Disaster might have followed.
Instead, the Huskies went on a 13-0 run to take an inexorable 59-53
lead. They were propelled by Dixon, whose rescuing finish left her with
4 points, 4 assists, 4 steals, 2 rebounds and the most important
contribution of her largely uncertain but suddenly invigorated career.
“Dixon hasn’t been a big-time
player, but she was their spark,” Georgetown Coach Terri
Williams-Flournoy said.
With her speed and energy, Dixon
solved Georgetown’s trap, allowed UConn to use a rare and extended 2-3
zone defense, and removed ball-handling pressure from the inexperienced
and nervous Hartley. Freed from this responsibility, Hartley floated to
the perimeter along with Moore (23 points), and once-faltering shots
began to fall for the Huskies.
Dixon pilfered the ball and dropped
in a layup, intercepted a pass and delivered an assist to Hartley,
stole the ball again and hit a shot from the corner, fell to the floor
with a rebound, grabbed another steal. Certain defeat became rousing
victory.
“The way Lorin came in and played
changed the tone of the game; everything changed,” Auriemma said. “Bria
doesn’t have the experience right now to extend UConn offensively or
defensively. I thought what Lorin did was unbelievably important.”
She arrived at UConn as a freshman
with Moore. Together they have won 2 national titles and 149 games,
while losing only three times. But while Moore has been a two-time
national player of the year, Dixon has been a reserve, her confidence
often puddling on the court like sweat.
“The No. 1 thing a player needs to
be successful, especially at Connecticut, is an over-the-top level of
confidence, because every day you’re going to be tested whether you’re
any good,” Auriemma said.
Dixon seemed tortured by insecurity.
Can I play? Can’t I?
“I feel like I kind of held myself
back for a while,” Dixon said. “My confidence was a big problem for
years. Believing that I can step on the court and do anything, that was
a problem. If I had overcome that, I feel I would have accomplished
more. But I’m not disappointed in the way I’m going out.”
Once, she tended to pout and mope on
the court. Now there is no more room for doubting. Her career will end
Tuesday at the earliest, in eight days at the latest. It is time not to
worry whether she is good enough, but just to play as if she is.
The change in the last month has
been complete and urgent, Auriemma said.
“For whatever reason, I don’t know
what the answer is, this last month of her career has been the best
I’ve ever seen Lorin Dixon at practice every day, just her whole
mind-set, the way she’s carrying herself, what she expects from
herself,” he said. “The consistency she has every day, that didn’t
exist for three and a half years.”
That it exists now is extremely
timely, given that Dixon is UConn’s only reliable player off of a thin
bench.
“It may be the difference going
forward,” Auriemma said.
On Sunday, by having to rally for a
win instead of coasting to victory, UConn learned something about
itself, Auriemma said. For Dixon, this journey of self-discovery has
been especially long and personal.
“If I can help my team, I’m glad I
can do it now,” she said, “when it’s needed most.”
UConn women defeat Georgetown 68-63, advance to Elite 8
Rich Elliott, CT POST
Staff Writer
Updated 10:36 p.m., Sunday, March
27, 2011
PHILADELPHIA -- The UConn women's
basketball team never stopped fighting. No matter how many missed
shots, no matter how many turnovers the Huskies committed they managed
to remain calm. Georgetown
tried hard to knock out UConn in the NCAA regional semifinals Sunday.
But the top-ranked Huskies refused to collapse.
Maya Moore had 23 points and 14
rebounds and Lorin Dixon sparked a critical second-half run as UConn
rallied for a 68-63 victory before 5,734 at the Liacouras Center. The
Huskies, utilizing a small lineup, trailed by seven with under 10
minutes remaining before using a 13-0 run to seize control.
"A lot of teams probably would've
seen themselves down at that point and probably would have gave up a
little bit,'' Dixon said. "But just the way everybody stayed together.
We didn't lose contact with each other. People didn't get mad at each
other. Just the way we just handled everything was probably the
proudest moment for me (Sunday).''
The Huskies (35-1) have advanced to
the regional final for the sixth straight season and for the 17th time
overall. They will be seeking their 12th trip to the Final Four when
they meet No. 6 and second-seeded Duke in the final Tuesday night (7;
ESPN).
Behind 23 points and nine rebounds
from Karima Christmas, the Blue Devils defeated No. 10 and third-seeded
DePaul 70-63 Sunday. Tuesday's game will be a rematch of UConn's 87-51
win at Gampel Pavilion Jan. 31.
"We're fortunate that we made some
huge plays in the last seven or eight minutes when it was time for our
team to win the game,'' UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "We stepped up
and won the game. Georgetown didn't lose the game as much as I think we
won the game. And I'm really proud of our guys for that.''
Bria Hartley added 17 points,
including two clutch 3-pointers in the second half, and six assists for
the Huskies. Kelly Faris had eight points, seven rebounds and five
assists, while Dixon contributed four points, four assists and four
steals off the bench.
UConn, which shot 38.7 percent from
the field, trailed for stretches of 9:32 and 9:00. The deficit was
53-46 with 9:36 remaining.
The Huskies had gone without a field
goal for 7:33 before Hartley made a 3-pointer with 8:20 left to bring
them within 53-49. Auriemma called a timeout following the hoop.
"Our players are not in these
situations very often so it's good to be tested,'' Auriemma said. "I
told them at one time in the huddle, `It's easy to be a winner when
you're winning. But you find out a lot about yourself when you have to
go out and win.' And I think we found out a lot about our team that
maybe we didn't know about ourselves.'' Hartley's hoop triggered the
decisive run by UConn. The Huskies scored 13 straight points to open a
59-53 lead with 4:51 left.
Hartley had five points in the run.
Moore and Dixon each had four. Dixon also had one rebound, one assist
and four steals in this stretch.
UConn made eight of its final 11
shots in earning its 26th straight win over Georgetown (24-11). The
Huskies had been shooting 31.4 percent to that point in the game.
``It's like a gut-check,'' Hartley
said. ``The whole game they were up. Things weren't going our way. They
had the momentum the entire game. But we were able to come together and
just suck it up and make sure we come here and do what we had to do
just to get the win.''
The Hoyas went scoreless for 5:06
during UConn's run. They missed seven straight shots and committed six
turnovers.
Georgetown did not get closer than
four the rest of the way.
Monica McNutt led the Hoyas with 17
points (5-of-9 3-pointers). Tia Magee added 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Sugar Rodgers, who was averaging 30 points in the tournament, finished
with 11 (3-of-17 FG).
``I don't think throughout the game
we ever thought we were going to lose,'' Hartley said. ``And I just
think at Connecticut you have to have that mindset that you're going to
win regardless if things aren't going your way. It only helps you. If
you have that mindset only good things can come from that. Nothing
negative can.''
Tighten Defense In
Second Half, Rally To Beat Georgetown, 68-63
By JOHN ALTAVILLA, jaltavilla@courant.com
The Hartford Courant
9:41 PM EDT, March 27, 2011
PHILADELPHIA —There is a reason the UConn women are what they are. They
have a nourishing reservoir of experience, talent and confidence they
tap into when they need it. They needed it all Sunday. They needed
every last drop of sustenance to deal with a fearless Georgetown team
intent on engineering the biggest upset in recent NCAA Tournament
history.
"When did we discover we might be
able to beat UConn? When Tina Charles graduated," said Georgetown's
Monica McNutt.
As it turned out, the Huskies also
needed a change of pace, something to make them quicker, more
instinctive. They needed their coach to make a decision. And once he
did, they needed it to work. Here's the thing: Everyone intends to
upend the team that has won back-to-back national championships. And
only Stanford has managed to do it in the past three seasons. So give credit to Georgetown for its old
college try. But over the last 10 minutes of one of its most difficult
tests in a long time, UConn took control.
The Huskies' defense fueled a
furious rally that produced a 68-63 victory in a Philadelphia Regional
semifinal at Temple University.
"I'd say for the first 38 minutes of
the game, I may have thought this might not be our day," Geno Auriemma
said.
Down 51-44 with 11:13 to play,
Auriemma changed things up by taking center Stefanie Dolson out and
putting in freshman guard Bria Hartley.
"I know I shouldn't say this," Hoyas
coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. "He had to take Dolson out. Tia
Magee was absolutely killing her."
Senior guard Lorin Dixon provided
the flash (and four points) in a 13-0 run that doused Georgetown's
competitive fire. Hartley scored five points and senior Maya Moore four
in that stretch, which turned a 53-46 deficit with 9:36 left into a
59-53 lead with 4:51 to play.
"Coach was talking about pushing up
the defense," Dixon said. "We went 2-3; he wanted to get [Georgetown]
going faster. That's what I was basically tying to do, bring energy to
the team."
Moore scored 10 of UConn's last 13
points, finishing with 23. She also was the game's leading rebounder
with 14. Hartley had 17 points, including three three-pointers, and six
assists. McNutt led
the Hoyas (24-11) with 17 points, making five three-pointers. McGee (12
points, 13 rebounds) and Sugar Rodgers (11) also scored in double
figures.
"Solace? Absolutely not," McNutt
said. "In case you haven't noticed, our program is on the rise. We are
past the point of moral victories. We should be in the Elite Eight."
The Huskies (35-1) will play Duke
(32-3) Tuesday night in an effort to join the men's team in the Final
Four. On Jan. 31 at Gampel Pavilion, the Huskies routed the Blue
Devils, 87-51. With
Dixon as the catalyst, the Huskies forced three straight turnovers
after a Hartley three and took a 55-53 lead with 6:06 to play. It was
the first time all day their experience seemed to take hold. It was clear Georgetown was hyped for
this game. In building the Hoyas into an NCAA Tournament team,
Williams-Flournoy has restored the confidence the Georgetown program
hasn't had since the early 1990s.
"We thoroughly believed we were
poised to contend and beat UConn," McNutt said.
The anything-is-possible attitude
was apparent during the Hoyas' pregame press confidence. There was no
hesitation in their voices. They knew they had come as close to beating
UConn as any Big East team had this season and felt a more consistent
offense could make the impossible possible. The first half was a huge confidence
booster. The Huskies took a quick 4-0 lead, but once the Hoyas settled,
things were pretty even.
The lead changed hands three times
in a frenetic first half. The difference was Georgetown's offense. The
Hoyas shot only 43.8 percent from the field in the half but were
7-for-14 on threes. And that set the stage for its halftime lead.
Equally important was the way
they handled Dolson, whose 24 points in the Big East quarterfinal
victory over Georgetown was the difference .
Dolson (13 rebounds) scored all
seven of her points in the first half and finished 3-for-10 from the
field — far from her form in Hartford.
"We were definitely quicker," Moore
said of the lineup after Dolson was replaced. "We know we are smaller
and that forces us to pick up the tempo."
While Georgetown was making its
shots, the Huskies were having trouble with theirs. They were 12-for-36
in the first half, when Moore scored a team-high 10 but was only
3-for-9.
"I always think that every team we
play in the NCAA Tournament is going to make every shot it takes,"
Auriemma said.
But it didn't turn out that way,
even though the Hoyas hit 10 three-pointers. In the end, it was the
Huskies' ability to adjust to the flow that sent them to another Elite
Eight.
"We hung in there," Moore said. "We
never hung our heads."
UConn comes back to
beat Georgetown, advances to Elite Eight
By Vickie Fulkerson, TheDay.com
Published 03/27/2011 12:00 AM
Updated 03/27/2011 03:19 PM
Philadelphia — Maya Moore finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds
Sunday and the top-seeded UConn women's basketball team advanced to the
NCAA tournament's Elite Eight with a 68-63 win over No. 5 Georgetown in
the Philadelphia Regional at the Liacouras Center.
The Huskies trailed by as many as seven points with 9 minutes, 36
seconds remaining (53-46), before taking the lead for good with 6:17 to
play on a basket by Lorin Dixon. Dixon, a senior, played a key role in
the last 13 minutes, finishing with four points, four assists and four
steals.
UConn (35-1), the two-time defending national champion, will next play
either No. 2 Duke or No. 3 DePaul on Tuesday for a trip to the Final
Four.
It was the third time UConn and Georgetown met this season, with UConn
winning all three.
Georgetown finished 24-11.
FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS OF WNCAA
AT GAMPEL
"I don't think
I'll ever forget that scene," alluding to the postgame hosannas..."
UConn women
roll into the Sweet 16
Vickie Fulkerson, New London DAY
Article published Mar 22, 2011
Storrs — Tiffany Hayes scored 23 points as UConn beat Purdue 64-40 in
Tuesday night's NCAA women's basketball tournament second-round game at
Gampel Pavilion.
Maya Moore finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds as she and fellow
senior Lorin Dixon finished their home careers at 81-0 (40-0 at Gampel
and 41-0 at the XL Center). Stefanie Dolson had 11 points and 10
rebounds for UConn (34-1). Purdue (21-12) shot 25.9 percent from the
floor (14-of-54). UConn advances to play Georgetown Sunday in
Philadelphia.
UConn closes Gampel chapter with a rout
Rich Elliott, CT POST Staff Writer
Updated 09:16 p.m., Tuesday, March
22, 2011
STORRS -- The UConn women's
basketball team has long prided itself on its ability to shut down an
opponent defensively. The top-ranked Huskies play with a chip on their
shoulder, growing angry when the player they are defending happens to
score.
UConn needed its defensive tenacity
Tuesday in the second round of the NCAA tournament. It masked one of
its worst shooting performances of the season and paved the way to a
trip to the Philadelphia regional semifinals.
The Huskies held ninth-seeded Purdue
to 25.9 percent shooting from the field in a 64-40 win over
ninth-seeded Purdue before 5,729 at Gampel Pavilion. UConn held the
Boilermakers scoreless for more than 10 minutes in the first half and
for more than seven minutes in the second half. Tiffany Hayes led the Huskies offensively
with 23 points. She also had six rebounds, four assists and three
steals. UConn shot just 35.5 percent from the field, including 28.1
percent in the first half.
The Huskies (34-1) advanced to the
regional semifinals for the 18th straight season. It is the longest
active streak in the nation. They are third all-time with 19 regional
appearances. UConn
will face No. 23 Georgetown (24-10) Sunday at the Liacouras Center in
Philadelphia. The Huskies are 2-0 against the Hoyas this season.
Sixth-ranked Duke (31-3) and No. 9
DePaul (29-6) will meet in the other regional semifinal.
The Huskies are making their third
NCAA tournament appearance in Philadelphia (4-0), winning the national
championship in 2000 and winning the regional to advance to the first
Final Four for the first time in 1991.
Maya Moore added 16 points (5-of-14
FG) and 13 rebounds --her seventh double-double this season -- for
UConn. Stefanie Dolson had 11 points and 10 rebounds -- her first
career double-double. Bria Hartley had 10 points and four
assists. The Huskies
out-rebounded Purdue 55-30, turning a season-high 23 offensive rebounds
into 19 second-chance points.
Moore and Lorin Dixon became the
first senior class in UConn history to finish their career undefeated
at home (81-0). They were 40-0 at Gampel Pavilion and 41-0 at the XL
Center. Moore also
earned the 148th win of her career (148-3), tying former teammate
Kalana Greene's NCAA record.
Drey Mingo led Purdue (21-12) with
nine points (3-of-10 FG) and three rebounds. The Huskies struggled throughout the
first half offensively. They shot 28.1 percent from the field. But they
managed to generate a 16-2 run en route to a 28-13 lead at halftime.
UConn found the answers for its
inability to put the ball in the basket on the boards and at the
defensive end. The Huskies scored 11 second-chance points off of 14
offensive rebounds (six by Moore). Defensively, they held Purdue to
20.0 percent shooting. The
Boilermakers suffered through scoring droughts of 5:22 and 4:53 in the
half. They did not make a field goal for a stretch of 8:05.
Led by Hayes, the Huskies
rediscovered their offensive rhythm in the opening minutes of the
second half. Hayes made three 3-pointers and added a layup to key a
19-1 run. UConn ended
the run by scoring 13 straight points to open a 47-16 lead with 12:51
left in the game This time Purdue went scoreless for 7:29, missing
eight straight shots.
After Gampel
win, UConn to face Purdue
The Daily Campus
By Colin McDonough, Senior Staff
Writer
Published: Monday, March 21, 2011
Updated: Monday, March 21, 2011 00:03
The No. 1 seed UConn women's
basketball team advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament
after a 75-39 win over No. 16 Hartford Sunday afternoon at Gampel
Pavilion. Up next is Purdue, who beat Kansas State Sunday in
Storrs.
The Huskies spread the wealth
around, with all five starters scoring in double figures. Maya Moore,
Stefanie Dolson, Tiffany Hayes all scored 12 points, while Kelly Faris
added 10. All UConn players got in the box score for scoring. Lauren
Engeln, Michala Johnson, Lorin Dixon and Heather Buck all played
minutes and scored.
"These games in the first round,
they take a familiar script for us anyway," said coach Geno Auriemma.
"We haven't played in so long, we're unsure of what we're going to get
in the first 10 or 15 minutes in the game."
Auriemma said, as he has after many
easy victories over mid-majors this season, that UConn won because they
recruit better, more talented players than the Hawks.
"I like to tell people some of these
games are won on Nov. 14, the day when recruits sign with their
respective schools," Auriemma said.
Hartford hung around for the first
10 minutes ,and was down 8-5 with over 16 minutes left. Dolson hit
back-to-back shots to make it 12-5. With the score 18-9, Faris stole a
pass from Hartford's Jackie Smith. Faris passed it up to Dixon, who
battled contact to convert a layup after drawing a foul. Dixon hit the
free throw to put UConn up 12, and the Huskies never looked back.
"I think our transition really
sparked that," Moore said. "Stefanie did a great job and our guards did
a good job…We love to run and get out in transition. Whenever we get
that tempo going we start salivating."
After a Faris three-pointer with
8:07 left, former UConn National Player of the Year and Hartford coach
Jen Rizzotti called a timeout with the Huskies leading 26-9. The
Huskies' used a 12-0 run midway through the first half to end any hope
of a major upset.
Although Rizzotti was back in the
building where her No. 21 jersey is hanging on the wall, along with the
rest of the Huskies of Honor, she talked more about Hartford rather
than her alma mater.
"I'm just a little overwhelmed;
every year you know the season is going to come to the end at some
point,but you try not to think about it," Rizzotti said.
The Hawks said that it was tough for
their season to end, but going out in the NCAA tournament was an
accomplishment.
"We just went into the game with the
mindset of being fearless," said Ruthanne Doherty. "We just wanted to
play hard and give it our all."
Doherty said that the team didn't
look at the Huskies as superheroes or unbeatable.
"They're normal people; they're not
invincible," Doherty said. "They shoot better, they run the floor, they
do a lot of things better. We had the heart and determination, but
their talent rose over us, I guess."
Hartford overcame a poor start to
win the America East tournament and earn an NCAA bid, but they wanted
to make a run in the tournament.
"Our kids wanted to win," Rizzotti
said.
Huskies are all
business
By Vickie Fulkerson Day Sports Writer
Article published Mar 21, 2011
Storrs - There was a game to play, a
pretty important one at that. But first, it wouldn't be normal in the
relationship between UConn coach Geno Auriemma and Hartford coach Jen
Rizzotti if there wasn't a little bit of needling between the two.
Rizzotti, a former All-American
under Auriemma, said Auriemma addressed Rizzotti's husband Bill
Sullivan prior to Sunday's NCAA tournament first-round matchup at
Gampel Pavilion. Sullivan is also Rizzotti's assistant coach.
"(Auriemma) told Sully he did a
great job turning the team around after I gave up on them when we were
1-9," Rizzotti said later, shaking her head and smiling.
But after that, it was time for
business.
That's when top-seeded UConn, the
two-time defending national champion, separated itself.
Stefanie Dolson, the Huskies'
freshman center, picked up where she left off in the Big East
tournament nearly two weeks ago, scoring all 12 of her points in the
first half as UConn overpowered No. 16 Hartford 75-39 before a Gampel
crowd of 6,418. UConn
had all five of its starters in double figures, with Dolson, Maya
Moore, Tiffany Hayes and Bria Hartley finishing with 12 points each and
Kelly Faris with 10.
Moore, a senior All-American, broke
her own single-season record of 754 points which she established as a
sophomore. She now has 765. UConn (33-1), with Dolson at 6-foot-5
towering over most of the Hartford lineup - the Hawks' tallest starter
was former Montville star Nikkia Smith at 6-1 - outrebounded its
opponent 47-23.
The Huskies will face No. 9 Purdue
(21-11) in the second round at 7 p.m. Tuesday, with the winner earning
a berth in the Sweet 16 in Philadelphia. Purdue defeated No. 8 Kansas
State in the second game Sunday, 53-45.
"I liked what we did. I liked the
way we did it," Auriemma said of his team's 2011 NCAA debut.
Auriemma said his greatest worry
this time of year is a tendency for his players who have been in the
tournament before to want to hurry the process along and not take care
of all the little things along the way.
"'Let's hurry up and get this over
with and then let's plan the (national championship) parade,'" Auriemma
said. "(That's) the biggest danger this time of year, complacency or
getting ahead of yourself."
Dolson, meanwhile, spoke earlier in
the week of how, not having made the state tournament as a high school
senior last year, she and her family would host Connecticut-themed
parties to watch the Huskies play in the NCAA tournament.
"It's cool to know this was my first
game in the tournament and I got to be a part of it," Dolson said. "I
was talking to Caroline (Doty) on the bench about it, how excited I was
to know I was playing in the tournament."
The fact it was the end of her
team's journey was a little overwhelming for Rizzotti. The Hawks
overcame that 1-9 start and earned an automatic bid with a victory in
the America East tournament. Alex Hall finished with 10 points for
Hartford (17-16). Smith had six points, two rebounds and a steal.
Meanwhile, Rizzotti was
coaching in a building that used to serve as her home court, a court
where the Huskies' first national championship banner hangs, thanks, in
part to her. Rizzotti's jersey No. 21 is one of those hanging in the
"Huskies of Honor."
That didn't make losing any better,
Rizzotti said.
"I'm (ticked) when I lose, no matter
who it is," said Rizzotti, who has led the Hawks to six NCAA
tournaments in her 12 seasons.
Said Auriemma of matching up against
Rizzotti and Hartford: "I know their general, so you know what their
attack is going to be. … Not that we think alike."
UConn led 40-17 at halftime, going
on a 14-0 run in the first half, getting a three-point play from Lorin
Dixon and a 3-pointer from Faris during that span to give the Huskies a
30-9 lead. UConn then scored the first eight points of the second half,
making it 48-17.
SP Kennel heads homes after excellent
Iditarod! Instead of leading the Red Team, Cha Cha was "point"
for Black Team!
Cha Cha noted that her team, the Black Team, had 12 dogs pulling at the
end (finishing #24), while the SP Red Team had 11 - and the Red Team
finished #11. "So it is not just how many are on the team, but
the determination each animal has to do his or her best."
Editorial comment: The Black Team, it is suspected, would have
finished higher, but for heroic rescue of a dazed musher and her team,
taking time to tie their team and sled to the Black Team sled and pull
them to the next stop and make sure everyone was OK!
UConn
women advance in NCAA tourney
with 75-39 victory over Hartford
Rich Elliott, CT POST Staff Writer
Published 04:16 p.m., Sunday, March
20, 2011
STORRS -- UConn All-American Maya
Moore has proven again and again why she is the nation's top player
this season. Yet, when it has come to the ultimate success of the
top-ranked Huskies, the focus has not been solely on Moore. It has been
on the team as a whole.
In order to reach its ultimate goal
over the next couple of weeks in the NCAA tournament, UConn realizes
that it will take contributions every member of its six-player
rotation. The collective contributions were there in impressive fashion
Sunday.
Moore and Stefanie Dolson each had
12 points and seven rebounds to lead a well-balanced performance by the
Huskies in a 75-39 victory over 16th-seeded Hartford in the first round
at Gampel Pavilion. Seven players had at least five points for UConn.
The Huskies (33-1) are seeking their
third straight national championship and their eighth overall, which
would tie the NCAA record in each category. They will meet the winner
of Sunday's second game between eighth-seeded Kansas State and
ninth-seeded Purdue in the second round Tuesday night at Gampel
Pavilion (7; ESPN2).
UConn has won 18 straight NCAA
tournament first round games since a 74-71 loss to Louisville in 1993.
The Huskies have also won 27 straight tournament games played on campus.
Tiffany Hayes (five rebounds, five
assists) and Bria Hartley (four rebounds, three assists) also had 12
points for UConn. Kelly Faris had 10 points, six rebounds, three
assists and three steals. Lorin Dixon finished with seven points, six
rebounds and five assists, while Michala Johnson had five points and
five rebounds in 14 minutes.
With 753 points this season, Moore
has broken her own team single-season scoring record. She had 754 as a
sophomore in 2008-09.
Seniors Moore and Dixon established
a new team record with 147 wins as a class.
Alex Hall led Hartford with 10
points. Daphne Elliott, the career-leading scorer at Fairfield Warde
High, was scoreless in 16 minutes.
The Hawks shot just 31 percent from
the field.
Former UConn All-American and
Hartford head coach Jennifer Rizzotti was coaching against the Huskies
for the first time at Gampel Pavilion. It was her second time overall
coaching at Gampel Pavilion, falling to Rutgers in the first round of
NCAA tournament on March 20, 2005.
The Hawks, who were making their
second straight NCAA tournament appearance and their fifth in the last
seven years, dropped to 0-12 all-time against the Huskies.
The Huskies had assists on their
first seven field goals and 10 of 12 to open a 28-9 lead with 7:08 left
in the first half. They scored 12 straight points at one stretch,
holding Hartford scoreless for 5:19.
It took only 9:36 for all six
players to score for UConn. They all had at least five points in the
half.
The Huskies led 40-17 at halftime.
They shot 58.1 percent from the field and had 14 assists on 18 field
goals.
UConn scored the first eight points
of the second half to open 29-point lead. The Huskies led by as many as
41.
The President
got a bloody nose and stiches at a game of pick up - Maya not involved.
FROM THE NEW HAVEN REGISTER
BLOG BY JIM FULLER, 3-18-11
...Speaking of Moore, President
Obama has vivid recollections of the pickup game Moore took part in on
his birthday. "For my
birthday I had a little all-star game here, and we had Dwyane Wade,
LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony and just a whole slew of all-stars."
“Maya, because I’d gotten to know
her when she came here, was on the court. She lit the guys up, and was
playing hard and they were playing hard. She picked Dwyane Wade -
sorry, Dwyane, but I've got to report on this - I mean, she picked him
clean on one play. So she can hang with the best players in the world
and she’s a winner.”
President Obama picked UConn to win
the national title in large part because of Moore.
"I've still got to go to
Connecticut. I just think that when you’ve got the top player in the
game in a close matchup and somebody who’s a veteran, who’s won the
tournament before, they’re not going to get as nervous. They’re going
to make the plays down the stretch.
"I think that Maya is going to be
hitting her jumper, she’s going to be making rebounds, she’s going to
be making plays -- I think Connecticut wins it again."
BIG EAST
Moore
is Most Outstanding Player, but her MVP is Dolson
By Vickie Fulkerson Day Sports Writer
Article published Mar 9, 2011
Hartford - The final buzzer went off Tuesday night and Maya Moore was
hugging UConn teammate Stefanie Dolson. What were the words that Moore
shared?
"Probably something like, 'You're my MVP,' or 'I'm really proud of
you,' something along those lines," Moore said. "I gave her like eight
hugs. I don't really remember what I said on that one."
Moore, the senior All-American with the perfect jump shot, was named
Most Outstanding Player of the Big East Conference tournament following
the Huskies' 73-64 victory over Notre Dame at the XL Center. It was
UConn's fourth championship in a row, 17th overall. Moore had 22
points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks in
the championship game, finishing the tournament strong after starting
off with six points in the Huskies' opener against Georgetown.
Dolson had 24 points, nine rebounds and two blocks, matching the career
high she set in that same game against Georgetown. Dolson broke the
UConn record for points by a freshman in the Big East tournament (60),
a mark that belonged to Diana Taurasi.
Both played 40 minutes. Not bad for Dolson, the 6-foot-5 freshman
center, who entered her first news conference of the tournament and
tried to sit in the seat with coach Geno Auriemma's placard in front of
it, not knowing the procedure quite yet.
"Absolutely," said Moore, asked if a case could be made that Dolson was
the MVP (in fact, the votes were split between the two). "I told her
she was my MVP. Just the way she stayed aggressive and stayed confident.
"I was just really proud of the way she stepped up and had everybody's
back tonight. Every time we threw it in there, it seemed like something
good would happen. I was just congratulating her and making sure she
knew what she did tonight was really special."
With 2 minutes, 28 seconds remaining in the game and UConn up five,
Moore, in fact, missed a shot and Dolson got the offensive rebound. She
scored in the midst of falling down, stretching the lead.
"Unfortunately, I didn't get to vote, but I know who I would have voted
for," Auriemma said, referring to Dolson.
During one timeout, Dolson said she was exhausted, but associate coach
Chris Dailey talked to her and helped her fight through it.
Dolson
also appreciated the nod from Moore for MVP. She also happens to think
Moore is pretty good.
"There's no one else I personally feed off more," Dolson said. "I just
get so excited, screaming down the court. She's someone that just
carries us."
UConn overcomes fouls, short rotation to fight off ND, capture fourth
straight title
Hartford - Tiffany Hayes
picked up her third foul with about a minute and a half to play in the
first half and had to stay on the floor.
That's because Bria Hartley also had
three fouls. And well, that's what happens when a team is playing its
third game in three days with a six-player rotation and facing the
10th-ranked team in the country in Notre Dame.
It's also what made a 73-64 victory
in Tuesday's Big East Conference tournament championship game so
gratifying for top-ranked UConn, which trailed by as many as seven
points in the first half but managed to fight off Notre Dame before a
vocal crowd of 10,202 at the XL Center.
"It's been the most difficult year,"
said UConn senior Maya Moore, who has now won four straight Big East
tournaments with the Huskies. "But we've shown some resilience, I
think, overcoming some odds and being mentally tougher than we probably
thought we would be."
Moore finished with 22 points and
was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player for the second time
in her distinguished career.
It was the first time the teams met
in the Big East tournament final since 2001 when UConn's Sue Bird made
a game-winning shot against the top-seeded Fighting Irish, who would go
on to win the national championship.
But thanks to Moore and 6-foot-5
freshman center Stefanie Dolson, there would be no revenge, as UConn
won its 17th championship.
Dolson had 24 points, nine rebounds,
two blocked shots, an assist and played 40 minutes for the first time
in her career. Dolson finished with 60 points in the tournament,
breaking program great Diana Taurasi's record for most points in the
tournament by a UConn freshman (53).
UConn (32-1) beat Notre Dame 79-76
in South Bend, Ind., on Jan. 8 and 78-57 on Feb. 19 at Gampel Pavilion.
"Obviously, losing, period,
frustrates us because of how hard we've been working to get to this
level," Notre Dame sophomore Skylar Diggins said. "This team had the
mind-set we were going to win. We didn't play not to lose, we played to
win tonight."
Bria Hartley scored 12 points and
Hayes added 10 for UConn. Hartley did foul out with about a minute
remaining, but made the All-Tournament team along with Dolson, Notre
Dame's Diggins and Natalie Novosel, and DePaul's Keisha Hampton.
"Against a team like Notre Dame,
your worst fears are going to come true," UConn coach Geno Auriemma
said of the foul situation in the first half. "During that time I just
kind of shook my head and, 'Let's see what happens. Let's just play at
see what happens.'"
UConn led 13-12 when Notre Dame
launched an 8-0 run, despite being in foul trouble of its own, with
starters Devereaux Peters and Becca Bruszewski on the bench with two
fouls each. The run was fueled by four points from reserve Fraderica
Miller and ended with the Irish leading 20-13.
The score hung in the balance until
the end of the half, with the lead changing eight times in all. UConn
led 32-31 at halftime on a free throw by Hayes.
UConn scored the first two baskets
of the second half on fast breaks, one by Moore, one by Dolson. Then,
leading 41-40 at the first TV timeout, UConn started scoring and didn't
stop until the score was 52-40. Dolson and Hartley scored two times
each and Moore capped the run with a 3-pointer in the right corner.
Novosel finished with 17 points for
Notre Dame (26-7), Diggins had 14 and freshman Natalie Achonwa had 12
points and 10 rebounds.
v.fulkerson@theday.com
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Maya Moore (UConn), Most Outstanding
Player
Stefanie Dolson (UConn)
Bria Hartley (UConn)
Skyler Diggins (Notre Dame)
Natalie Novosel (Notre Dame)
Keisha Hampton (DePaul)
Even in a foul mood,
UConn women find a way to celebrate
New Haven REGISTER
By Dave Solomon
Published: Wednesday, March 09, 2011
HARTFORD — UConn’s Big East women’s
championship celebration came with a caution sign.
As we await Selection Monday for the
UConn Huskies, the best team in the country through the regular season
and conference tournaments, there’s visual evidence that their
powerhouse is built on five superb starters, one sub with modest
ability, and lot of novenas to keep all six active in each game going
forward.
With 4:31 left in the first half,
Bria Hartley, one of the Indispensable Five, drew her third personal
foul. With 1:35 left in the first half, Tiffany Hayes, another one of
the Five, drew her third personal foul. So with Lorin Dixon already in
the game to replace Hartley, UConn coach Geno Auriemma looked down his
bench and left Hayes in the game.
Hartley and Hayes each drew their
fourth foul within 20 seconds of each other, approximately 15 minutes
into the second half, but it obviously could have been much worse if
they got quick fouls in the second half.
“Against a team like Notre Dame,
it’s your worst fear because of how they play and how they get the ball
from Point A to Point B and then what they do when they get in the lane
and how aggressive they are,” said Auriemma. “We’re trying to manage it
so we have enough offense on the floor to help our defense. Trying to
keep enough offensive players on the floor is a real challenge
sometimes, especially when you’ve got two of your best offensive
players with those fouls.
“Now you look out there and Kelly
(Faris) is struggling so its Maya (Moore) and Stefanie (Dolson) and
that’s it. Yeah, during that time, I just kind of shook my head and
said, let’s play and see what happens.”
There are only a few teams good
enough to exploit UConn into serious foul trouble. But from the NCAA
regional final on, or at least in the Final Four, where Baylor’s
Brittney Griner awaits, foul trouble is the Huskies’ worst nightmare.
It goes without saying how much
UConn changes when and if Maya Moore gets into foul trouble in the NCAA
tournament, but not far behind is Dolson, who is in the conversation as
the best center in the Big East. The freshman from Port Jervis, N.Y.,
might not be recognized as such because her maturation has been
pronounced over the final third of the season. But she was the best
player on the floor Tuesday night – and for the second time in three
tournament games. Dolson scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds
playing all 40 minutes.
Notre Dame doesn’t have bigs with
the size of Dolson (6-foot-5), but they do have three quality forwards
and didn’t make the concerted effort to get her in foul trouble after
she drew her first foul three minutes into the game.
How Auriemma will keep her on the
floor against Griner when the two teams eventually meet will take all
of his basketball acumen.
Curiously, Moore won the tournament
MVP, though Moore knew what everyone else (except a handful of voters)
knew: that Dolson deserved the award.
After the final buzzer Moore
whispered in Dolson’s ear something to the effect of, “You’re my MVP.”
“I gave her like eight hugs,” said
Moore, who won her fourth consecutive Big East championship, and the
17th for UConn. “I was just proud of the way she stepped up and had
everybody’s back … relieving a lot of pressure for all of us by scoring
in the post. Every time we threw it in there, it seemed like something
good would happen. I was just making sure that she knew what she did
tonight was really special.”
She’s a game-changer for the season,
especially after Samarie Walker transferred in mid-year. If UConn is
taken out this year, you can bet that foul trouble will be a major
reason.
“A game like this could easily have
gone the other way,” said Auriemma. “That would have been impossible
the last couple of years. We would have won a game like this by 25
points a couple of years ago and last year. Not this year. If we don’t
have all five of our starters play well, we could lose to anybody … oh,
not anybody, but some people.”
And those are the very people who
want to keep UConn from winning another national title.
Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said
her team might have been too overly concerned with trying to get
Hartley and Hayes a fourth foul, saying it might have led to some
forced shots and took the Irish offense a little out of sync. But a lot
of credit has to go to Hartley and Hayes for having the discipline to
avoid a fourth foul until late in the game.
But sometimes when the decision is
in the hands of the officials … it can quickly transform the best team
in America into a fragile team.
To UConn’s credit, it didn’t come to
that Tuesday. And if Auriemma can keep it that way eight more times,
UConn will have another national title. But the concern is real and is
the underlying theme to a Big East tournament championship.
No Luck for Irish
No. 1 UConn wins Big East
tournament by beating Notre Dame for third time
The Daily Campus
By Colin McDonough, Senior Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Updated: Tuesday, March 8, 2011 23:03
HARTFORD-An old mantra in sports is that it is very tough to beat
the same team three times in one season, especially if the opponent is
a conference rival. Try telling that to the Huskies.
The No. 1 UConn women's basketball team beat No. 10 Notre Dame for the
third time this season, and this win was in the Big East tournament
championship game. The Huskies took down the Fighting Irish 73-64 at
the XL Center in Hartford. UConn moved to 32-1 on the season and
clinched their 17th conference tournament title and fourth straight.
Stefanie Dolson tied her career high with 24 points and although there
were chants of "MVP" when Dolson was at the free throw line in the last
minute, Maya Moore received tournament Most Outstanding Player honors.
Moore scored 22 points and had five rebounds in the final.
"It was a real struggle," said coach Geno Auriemma. "I thought the
first half was real difficult to get anything done at both ends of the
floor. We kind of regrouped and when we came back out in the first five
minutes of the second half, we set the tone for the rest of the game."
Dolson, Moore and Bria Hartley took home hardware for All-Tournament
team. The Huskies beat Georgetown, Rutgers and then Notre Dame on
consecutive days to win the tournament.
"It feels great to know that this is our first Big East championship,"
Dolson said. "It feels great to be a part of it."
"It's been definitely the most difficult year, but we have shown some
resiliency, overcoming some odds," Moore said.
The Huskies short bench forced Dolson to play all 40 minutes.
"I think it's hard to win championships if you don't have somewhat of a
consistent scoring threat inside," Auriemma said. "I think what
Stefanie has done has given us a little bit of a comfort level that we
didn't have September, October, November, December."
Moore agreed that with the short bench, UConn needed every big play
they could get to sink Notre Dame.
"We need every single person to contribute tonight and I thought we did
a really good job, especially in the second half, of hitting big
shots," Moore said.
The loss continued the frustration for Notre Dame against UConn.
"Well obviously its just, losing period," said Skylar Diggins. "I think
this team had the mindset that we were going to win. Obviously playing
against a team like UConn, three times losing, is very frustrating."
The Fighting Irish hung around with the Huskies and were losing by one
point at halftime. But they could not get over the hump and UConn made
them pay in the second half. With less than 14 minutes, UConn
opened
up a 47-40 lead. Maya Moore blocked a shot and Hartley picked up the
loose ball to make it nine. After a missed shot by Skylar Diggins,
Moore swished a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 52-40. Muffet
McGraw was forced to call her last timeout of the game. It capped an
11-0 run for
Tiffany Hayes and Hartley each had three fouls at halftime, but neither
fouled out and coach Muffet McGraw thought it may have affected Notre
Dame negatively.
"That was our hope and maybe that's why we missed so many shots, we
were trying so hard to get them to foul us," McGraw said.
The Irish shot 33.8 percent on the night.
With 5:27 left, Brittany Mallory cut it to a 58-55 UConn lead with two
free throws. With 4:51 left, Moore hit a jumper to extend lead to five
then with 2:26 left, Dolson cleaned up a Moore miss to make it 66-59.
The Huskies hit five of seven free throws down the stretch to end the
game.
Diggins did not score until the 4:31 mark in the first half and without
any points from Diggins, the Irish held a one-point lead. She made her
first field goal a minute and a half into the second half and finished
the game with 14 points.
UConn beats back
Notre Dame to claim
Big East title
CT POST
Rich Elliott, Staff Writer
Published 09:15 p.m., Tuesday, March 8, 2011
HARTFORD -- The margin for error has not been this slim since the UConn
women's basketball team won its first national championship in 1995.
The top-ranked Huskies are running with a six-man rotation. They need
to be smart. They need to be focused. And they need to stay together.
Just having the best player in the country will not be enough on some
nights to prevail. UConn needs to have contributions from many players
to be at its best. The contributions were there again Tuesday, and
again they yielded a championship in the Big East tournament final.
Stefanie Dolson tied her career-high with 24 points and had nine
rebounds and Tournament Most Outstanding Player Maya Moore added 22
points to lead the Huskies to a 73-64 victory over No. 10 Notre Dame at
the XL Center. The Huskies used a 13-2 run in second half to open a
double-digit lead before holding off the Irish late. The Huskies
(32-1) were presented with championship T-shirts and hats after the
game. They celebrated on the floor and posed for a team photo at
midcourt.
UConn will open the NCAA tournament March 20 at Gampel Pavilion. The
tournament Selection Show is Monday at 7 (ESPN).
It was the fourth straight Big East tournament championship and the
17th overall for the Huskies. They swept the regular season and
tournament titles for the 14th time.
UConn improved to 9-0 all-time against Notre Dame in the Big East
tournament, with five wins coming in the final. This game came on the
10th anniversary of Sue Bird's buzzer beater that beat the Irish 78-76
at Gampel Pavilion March, 2001.
Moore, who is ninth all-time in Division I history in scoring (2,921),
also had five rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Huskies.
She is the second UConn player to twice be named the tournament Most
Outstanding Player (Kara Wolters; 1995, 1996). She is also the ninth
UConn player to be named to the all-tournament team three times in
their career.
Bria Hartley had 12 points, six rebounds and four assists for UConn.
Tiffany Hayes finished with 10 points and four assists. Dolson and
Hartley were named to the all-tournament team.
Natalie Novosel led Notre Dame with 17 points (4-of-18 FG) and five
rebounds. Skylar Diggins had 10 points (5-of-16 FG), five rebounds and
five assists. Both players were also named to the all-tournament team,
along with Keisha Hampton of DePaul.
The Irish (26-7) have lost three games to the Huskies this season and
12 straight in the series overall.
The Huskies struggled to execute for long stretches of the first half.
They twice trailed by as many seven, suffering through a scoreless
spell of 3:36 and failing to make a field goal for 5:51.
But powered by its defense UConn managed to hold a 32-31 lead at
halftime. The Huskies, who had their own 8-0 run, held Notre Dame
without a field goal for 7:50 and to just one over the final 8:20 of
the half.
The half featured three ties, eight lead changes and 22 turnovers (12
by Notre Dame).
Led by Moore, Dolson and Hartley, the Huskies started the second half
in a much better rhythm. The game was tied at 38-38 when UConn finally
managed to put some space between them and the Irish.
Moore made a 3-pointer with 17:01 left to ignite a 13-2 run for the
Huskies. They scored 11 straight points at one point -- capped by
another 3-pointer by Moore -- to open a 52-40 lead Dolson and Hartley
had four points in the run.
Notre Dame rallied to pull within 58-55 with 5:27 left. But Moore hit a
baseline jumper and Dolson followed with a layup.
Dolson later made two free throws with 52.4 seconds left to give the
Huskies a 70-60 lead and clinch a championship.
UCONN WOMEN:
Huskies defeat Notre Dame to win Big East tournament title
New Haven REGISTER
By Jim Fuller, Register staff
jfuller@nhregister.com
Published: Tuesday, March 08, 2011
HARTFORD —The three-time defending
Big East tournament champions took all of Notre Dame's best shots
before emerging with its 17th Big East title.
It was a tussle pretty much from the
opening tip before the duo of Maya Moore and Stefanie Dolson proved to
be too much for Notre Dame in leading UConn to a 73-64 victory before
10,202 at the XL Center on Tuesday.
Maya Moore, who became the third
player to earn Most Outstanding Performer honors twice after scoring 22
points. Stefanie Dolson had her second 24-point game of the tournament
and set a UConn freshman tournament scoring record with 60 points.
Bria Hartley and Tiffany Hayes had
12 and 10 points respectively for UConn (32-1).
After Notre Dame had sliced a
12-point lead to three, Moore hit a jumper and then Dolson scored eight
of UConn's next 10 points with no shots bigger than an offensive
rebound of a Moore miss and putback. Instead of Notre Dame having the
ball with a chance to cut into a five-point advantage, the Huskies were
up by seven.
Freshmen Dolson and Hartley had four
points each during an 11-0 run which pushed UConn's advantage to 52-40.
Moore capped the scoring outburst with a 3-pointer resulting in Notre
Dame calling its final timeout with 12:43 to play.
Notre Dame answered back with a 15-6
run, the last seven points coming from Natalie Novosel, who had left
the game earlier in the half with an apparent left knee injury.
Novosel led Notre Dame (26-7) with
17 points while Skylar Diggins had 14 points and Natalie Achonwa had 12
points and 10 rebounds.
Notre Dame, not intimidated by
either the top-ranked Huskies or the partisan UConn crowd at the XL
Center, twice held four -point lead in the early going.
Hayes had five points as the Huskies
answered with a 7-0 run to go up by three with 13:27 left in the first
half. Compounding matters for the Fighting Irish is that senior post
Becca Bruszewski picked up her second foul just 24 seconds after fellow
forward Devereaux Peters was whistled for her second foul. Freshman
Natalie Achonwa, who played for Canada at the FIBA World Championships
in September, hit her first shot while junior Fraderica Miller caused a
turnover with her persistent pressure on Kelly Faris and added a basket
after backing down Moore and scoring in the lane.
Both coaches took a gamble late in
the first half as UConn's Geno Auriemma had Hayes out on the court with
three fouls and Notre Dame's Muffet McGraw put Becca Bruszewski in with
two fouls.
Maya Moore and Lorin Dixon became
would be the first players to win four straight titles since Sue Bird,
Swin Cash, Asjha Jones and Tamika Williams accomplished the feat from
1999-2002.
UCONN RECRUITS HONORED
UConn incoming freshman Kaleena
Mosqueda-Lewis, a 6-foot senior guard/forward at Mater Dei in Santa
Ana, Calif., has been named the Naismith High School Player of the Year.
Mosqueda-Lewis, who also won the
WBCA national player of the year award, is averaging 21.7 points, 5.9
rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.8 steals in 30 games. She has 97 3-pointers
on 41.5 percent shooting for Mater Dei High which opened play in the
CIF Division I tournament Tuesday night against Fairfax.
She will be receive the award at a
luncheon in Atlanta on Mar. 21.
Fellow UConn signee Kiah Stokes has
been named the winner of Iowa's Miss Basketball Award.
Stokes, a 6-foot-3 senior
forward/center from Linn-Mar High in Marion, averaged 25 points, 14.9
rebounds and 5.6 blocks as a senior. She finished her career with 1,704
points, 1,239 rebounds and an Iowa record 515 blocked shots.
UConn beats back
Notre Dame to claim Big East title
CT POST
Rich Elliott, Staff Writer
Published 09:15 p.m., Tuesday, March 8, 2011
HARTFORD -- The margin for error has not been this slim since the UConn
women's basketball team won its first national championship in 1995.
The top-ranked Huskies are running with a six-man rotation. They need
to be smart. They need to be focused. And they need to stay together.
Just having the best player in the country will not be enough on some
nights to prevail. UConn needs to have contributions from many players
to be at its best. The contributions were there again Tuesday, and
again they yielded a championship in the Big East tournament final.
Stefanie Dolson tied her career-high with 24 points and had nine
rebounds and Tournament Most Outstanding Player Maya Moore added 22
points to lead the Huskies to a 73-64 victory over No. 10 Notre Dame at
the XL Center. The Huskies used a 13-2 run in second half to open a
double-digit lead before holding off the Irish late. The Huskies
(32-1) were presented with championship T-shirts and hats after the
game. They celebrated on the floor and posed for a team photo at
midcourt.
UConn will open the NCAA tournament March 20 at Gampel Pavilion. The
tournament Selection Show is Monday at 7 (ESPN).
It was the fourth straight Big East tournament championship and the
17th overall for the Huskies. They swept the regular season and
tournament titles for the 14th time.
UConn improved to 9-0 all-time against Notre Dame in the Big East
tournament, with five wins coming in the final. This game came on the
10th anniversary of Sue Bird's buzzer beater that beat the Irish 78-76
at Gampel Pavilion March, 2001.
Moore, who is ninth all-time in Division I history in scoring (2,921),
also had five rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Huskies.
She is the second UConn player to twice be named the tournament Most
Outstanding Player (Kara Wolters; 1995, 1996). She is also the ninth
UConn player to be named to the all-tournament team three times in
their career.
Bria Hartley had 12 points, six rebounds and four assists for UConn.
Tiffany Hayes finished with 10 points and four assists. Dolson and
Hartley were named to the all-tournament team.
Natalie Novosel led Notre Dame with 17 points (4-of-18 FG) and five
rebounds. Skylar Diggins had 10 points (5-of-16 FG), five rebounds and
five assists. Both players were also named to the all-tournament team,
along with Keisha Hampton of DePaul.
The Irish (26-7) have lost three games to the Huskies this season and
12 straight in the series overall.
The Huskies struggled to execute for long stretches of the first half.
They twice trailed by as many seven, suffering through a scoreless
spell of 3:36 and failing to make a field goal for 5:51.
But powered by its defense UConn managed to hold a 32-31 lead at
halftime. The Huskies, who had their own 8-0 run, held Notre Dame
without a field goal for 7:50 and to just one over the final 8:20 of
the half.
The half featured three ties, eight lead changes and 22 turnovers (12
by Notre Dame).
Led by Moore, Dolson and Hartley, the Huskies started the second half
in a much better rhythm. The game was tied at 38-38 when UConn finally
managed to put some space between them and the Irish.
Moore made a 3-pointer with 17:01 left to ignite a 13-2 run for the
Huskies. They scored 11 straight points at one point -- capped by
another 3-pointer by Moore -- to open a 52-40 lead Dolson and Hartley
had four points in the run.
Notre Dame rallied to pull within 58-55 with 5:27 left. But Moore hit a
baseline jumper and Dolson followed with a layup.
Dolson later made two free throws with 52.4 seconds left to give the
Huskies a 70-60 lead and clinch a championship.
.
ESPN
SHOWED TWO TOUGH LOOKING NUNS IN THE CROWD...
Final a real tussle - Maya doing her Tiff impersonation.
This is how one plays in the schoolyard. Rough. And the
Huskies did it again! Woof!
UConn Women Win 17th Big East Tournament Title With 73-64 Victory Over
Notre Dame
The Hartford
Courant
By JOHN ALTAVILLA, jaltavilla@courant.com
March 8, 2011
HARTFORD —
You wonder sometimes whether there's
an expiration date on the UConn brand. Will it someday go stale? Will
someone in the Big East emerge and finally send the Huskies to the
recycling center?
Players come and go. Challengers
emerge. But the world of women's basketball remains frozen in time.
This UConn team of six, led by two
precocious freshmen and a generational superstar, added their own
chapter to the Huskies' thick record book.
Led by Stefanie Dolson's 24 points
and Maya Moore's 22, the Huskies won their 17th Big East tournament
with a stirring 73-64 victory over Notre Dame at the XL Center.
This was a remarkable game on so
many platforms, easily the most intense for UConn since its keynote
one-point win over Baylor on Nov. 16.
It swung back and forth, the
momentum shifting constantly on an axis of big plays by both sides. It
was the quintessential title game, the best against the best giving
their best.
The only thing certain was that this
title was coveted and the Irish, on the receiving end of so many
beatings from UConn over the years, seemed intent on taking it.
UConn has won an NCAA-record 81
straight home games. The last time Notre Dame beat the Huskies was on
Jan. 30, 2005, and that snapped UConn's conference home winning streak
at 112 games. Maybe next year? Maybe not.
UConn women win fourth straight Big
East title
New London DAY
Article published Mar 8, 2011
Hartford — Freshman center Stefanie
Dolson had 24 points and nine rebounds as top-seeded UConn won its
fourth consecutive Big East Conference women's basketball championship
with a 73-64 victory over third-seeded Notre Dame Tuesday night at the
XL Center.
Senior Maya Moore added 22 points
for the Huskies (32-1), who led by only a one at the break, 32-31.
UConn now awaits Monday's NCAA Selection Show, where the Huskies are
certain to be a No. 1 as they prepare to chase their third straight
national title.
Notre Dame is 26-7.
No. 1 Connecticut 73, No. 10 Notre Dame
64
ESPN
Associated Press
8 M<arch 2011
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Stefanie Dolson
scored 24 points and Maya Moore added 22 to help No. 1 Connecticut win
its fourth straight Big East tournament championship with a 73-64
victory over 10th-ranked Notre Dame on Tuesday night.
UConn (32-1) has won 20 straight
games since losing to Stanford on Dec. 30 to snap the Huskies' record
90-game winning streak. It was the 21st time in the past 23 seasons
that they were in the championship game.
The Huskies have won 17 Big East
championships overall.
While UConn has been a frequent
visitor to the tournament title game, Notre Dame was making its first
trip to the championship since 2001 when the Irish lost to UConn on a
buzzer-beater by Sue Bird.
The Irish still have yet to win a
championship in five tries.
Natalie Novosel scored 17 points to
lead Notre Dame (26-7).
In sync and
out of sync (bad day for Rutgers, apparently)
Heather Buck, nursing
major, practices for the part as patient, Bria Hartley admires the
bandage Heather made for Maya, Herself (Maya the Magician0, Caroline
the Coach, and Kelly Kool, the big shot maker, get ready for the
offseason and jobs with the Rockettes.
Rising to meet the 'challenge'
A
day after scuffling against Georgetown, Huskies rip Rutgers behind
Moore to advance to final
By Vickie Fulkerson Day Sports Writer
Article published Mar 8, 2011
Hartford - Maya Moore might have scored in single digits for one of the
few times in her career, but she slept fine, really.
"I was tired," Moore said.
And the UConn star, growing increasingly aware of the dwindling number
of games she has left in her career, came back with a well-sharpened
sense of purpose Monday night in the Big East Conference tournament
semifinals at the XL Center.
Despite playing part of the game with a bandage on her chin, from what
she said was a physical practice earlier in the day, Moore finished
with 22 points, six rebounds and five assists as the top-seeded Huskies
knocked off No. 4 Rutgers 75-51, reaching their seventh straight Big
East championship game.
The Huskies (31-1) will meet No. 3 Notre Dame (26-6) at 7 tonight in
Hartford (ESPN), attempting to win their 17th title overall and their
fourth in a row. Notre Dame topped No. 2 DePaul 71-67 in Monday's
second semifinal, avenging a one-point regular-season loss to the Blue
Demons.
In Sunday afternoon's quarterfinals, Moore was flat-out un-Moore like
despite pulling in 15 rebounds, finishing with six points in a victory
over Georgetown. She shot 2-for-12.
"It definitely bothered me," Moore said. "Not just the stats, but the
way I played and the way our team played bothers me greatly. I tried
not to make it for nothing. I think you saw the difference between
yesterday's focus (for the team) and today's focus."
"Big-time players show up in big-time games," Rutgers coach C. Vivian
Stringer. "We didn't deserve to be on the same floor playing with
someone like Connecticut."
UConn's Kelly Faris added 19 points and four assists and freshman
center Stefanie Dolson had 12 points and nine rebounds. One sign
of the Huskies' unity against Rutgers: they had 23 assists on 25 field
goals.
Moore called Monday's game a "challenge." The 59-43 win over Georgetown
the day before was the second time in as many tries against the Hoyas
that the Huskies slogged to victory, scoring just 22 points in the
second half and committing 21 turnovers overall.
The game against Rutgers had the same potential pitfalls for UConn,
which beat the Scarlet Knights 63-44 earlier in the year in another
low-scoring, physical duel. Rutgers was the last team to beat UConn in
the Big East tournament, too, winning the 2007 championship game.
Said UConn coach Geno Auriemma: "I don't think (the) game is going to
be 90-89."
Then, 43 seconds in, Dolson was stuck behind a wall of two defenders
and found Moore open under the basket for a layup. Then it was Dolson's
turn at a layup, assisted by Bria Hartley … then Moore for a layup from
Tiffany Hayes. That led to a timeout by Stringer.
At that rate, Rutgers (19-12) wasn't able to keep it close for long.
By the time Moore and Faris combined for three straight 3-pointers with
7 minutes, 42 seconds remaining in the half, it was 27-14. Moore tacked
on two free throws for good measure, making it an 11-0 run with eight
of the points belonging to her.
"When Maya's making shots, invariably she's doing 15 other things out
on the floor," Auriemma said. "You feel like you're being overwhelmed
by her. It's a 3, it's a post-up, it's a jump shot. It's just coming at
the team from so many angles it looks like there's three or four of her
out there."
"You could just tell the way she started the game," Dolson said of
Moore. "You could tell she had a lot more confidence when she was
playing today. It rubs off on all of us. We got all excited today; it's
contagious."
UConn led 39-20 at halftime and by as many as 29 points in the second
half. Playing with only eight healthy players, Auriemma used freshman
Michala Johnson for 11 minutes and she responded with five points,
three rebounds and two assists against the Rutgers starters.
Stringer Frustrated In Defeat
CT POST
March 8, 2011 at 12:33 pm by Rich Elliott
Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer did not hold back during her postgame
comments Monday night …
“Big-time players show up for big-time games, and we didn’t show up,’’
Stringer said. “We didn’t deserve to be out there playing on the same
floor with Connecticut. And quite frankly, (UConn coach) Geno
(Auriemma) did us a big favor by bringing in players whose names I
don’t even know, and they still scored. Because of basic things we were
talking about: Getting a front position? No. How are we going to handle
this kid if we aren’t fronting her? We didn’t recognize. It was like
someone was blowing smoke in our face because we didn’t recognize where
people were. In a man-to-man situation if you have no one, you mean to
tell me you don’t know enough to pick up something or somebody? I was
stunned at some of the match-ups I saw. Guards guarding (Stefanie)
Dolson? And centers out there picking up a guard. Are you kidding me?
It was really mind-reeling, really frustrating. We did not show up. We
did not show the mindset.
“And honestly, we’re not that young. We have 4-5 juniors. That’s
enough. We only have two freshmen. The great teams know how to win.
Every player on that team is able to get it done. Keep in mind, the
last time Maya (Moore) didn’t do well, but then Stefanie Dolson showed
up, right? So Dolson only got 12 points (Monday), but nine rebounds.
But, hmmm, Kelly Faris. Did we expect Kelly Faris to get 19 points?
Hello? Because you have no slouches on that team. Everybody in their
own right can flat out get it done. As much as the game demands
physical skills, it also demands mental toughness. We had major
breakdowns. I can’t even tell you. So 10 seconds after a huddle where
we say we are going to do this, all of a sudden some people are playing
zone and some people are playing man-to-man. Wow. And nobody knows
where Maya Moore is. Everybody in the country knows where Maya Moore
is. Hello?’’
Moore helps
UConn rout Rutgers 75-51
YAHOO
By DOUG FEINBERG, AP Basketball Writer
7 March 2011
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)—Coming off one of the worst offensive games
of her stellar career, Maya Moore wasn’t about to let it happen twice
in a row. Moore scored 22 points and Kelly Faris added 19 to lead
top-ranked Connecticut to a 75-51 win over Rutgers on Monday night in
the semifinals of the Big East tournament.
“It definitely bothered me,” Moore said. “Not just the stats, but the
way I played and the way our team played bothers me greatly. I tried
not to make it for nothing and am glad we responded the way we did.”
Rutgers' Erica Wheeler, right, drives past Connecticut's Kelly Faris
during the second half of Connecticut's 75-51 victory in an NCAA
college basketball game in the semifinals of the Big East tournament in
Hartford, Conn., on Monday, March 7, 2011. UConn
(31-1)
has won 19 straight games since losing to Stanford on Dec. 30 to snap
the Huskies’ record 90-game winning streak. It will be the 21st time in
the past 23 seasons that they are in the championship game.
Coming off one of the worst offensive games of her career, Moore took
only four minutes to eclipse the season-low six points she had against
Georgetown. Rutgers (19-12) had no answer for the three-time
All-American. She helped break open a tight game, hitting two
3-pointers during an 11-0 run.
“I wanted to run hard and establish our inside game,” Moore said. “That
opens up things on the perimieter and gets me to the free throw line
and gets me in a rhythm.”
The Huskies will play either second-seeded DePaul or third seed Notre
Dame in the championship game Tuesday night. UConn is trying to win its
fourth straight Big East tournament championship and 17th overall. It
was the Huskies’ 80th consecutive victory at home and 68th straight
conference win. Their last loss in the conference was at Rutgers
on
Feb. 5, 2008. The Scarlet Knights also handed Connecticut its last home
loss in the championship game of the 2007 Big East tournament.
Rutgers wasn’t able to mount much of a challenge on Monday night
because of Moore. With Connecticut leading 18-14 midway through
the
first half, Moore sparked an 11-0 run to help UConn take control of the
game. Moore started the spurt with a 3-pointer and then hit another
after Faris had her own 3. Moore capped off the burst with two
free
throws to make it 29-14. She had outscored Rutgers 15-14 at that point.
When she wasn’t scoring, she was passing to open teammates for baskets.
With 5 seconds left in the half, Moore took the ball from the top of
the key and passed to a wide-open Bria Hartley for a 3-pointer as the
halftime buzzer sounded. The Huskies led 39-20 at the break.
“When Maya’s making shots invariably she’s doing 15 other things on the
floor,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “You feel like you’re being
overwhelmed by her. It’s a 3, a jump shot, a post up. It looks like
there are three or four of her out there.”
Unlike in the Georgetown game on Sunday when the Huskies let a 20-point
halftime lead slip to 11, they wouldn’t allow the Scarlet Knights to
rally.
The Scarlet Knights got within 16 on Erica Wheeler’s 3-pointer 2
minutes into the second half. UConn promptly answered with 14 of the
next 16 points highlighted by a full-court pass from Faris to Moore for
a layup and a three-point play by the senior that made it 54-27.
Rutgers didn’t get within 19 after that.
“Big time players show up in big time games,” Rutgers coach C. Vivian
Stringer said. “We didn’t deserve to be on the same floor playing with
someone like Connecticut.”
Wheeler finished with 17 points to lead the Scarlet Knights.
“It’s always tough when you get knocked down, us being a young team we
don’t understand what it takes to get up and fight,” Rutgers forward
April Sykes said. “We showed we weren’t ready to face someone like
UConn tonight. When you’re not scoring on offense and giving things on
defense you’re never going to win.”
About the only thing that went wrong for Moore was that she got hit in
the face on a 3-pointer in the first half. She sported a bandage on her
chin for the second half.
“It’s just a little boo-boo,” Moore said.
She left the game with over 9 minutes left to a loud ovation.
The Scarlet Knights had won five in a row, including a 68-62 win over
Marquette in the quarterfinals. The Scarlet Knights earned the No. 4
seed in the conference and a double bye. Their late season surge that
included victories over West Virginia, Syracuse and the Golden Eagles
will likely have them in the NCAA tournament for the ninth straight
season.
Maya scores 22 as UConn women rout
Rutgers
CT POST
Rich Elliott, Staff Writer
Updated 09:24 p.m., Monday, March 7, 2011
HARTFORD -- The sense was that UConn All-American Maya Moore was going
to bounce back. She had played one the worst games her career
offensively in the Big East tournament opener, failing to reach double
figures in scoring for just the fifth time in 147 games.
It was virtually inconceivable that Moore would struggle twice in as
many days. It could not happen to possibly the best player in the
country and a player certain to be a member of the 2012 Olympic team.
In the opening minute Monday against fourth-seeded Rutgers in the
semifinals, Moore proved she was back. And she never let up as she
scored 17 of her game-high 22 points in the first half to lead the
top-ranked Huskies to a 75-51 victory at the XL Center.
Moore was 7-of-15 from the field (3-of-5 3-pointers) had added six
rebounds and five assists in 30 minutes. She left the game to a loud
ovation with 9:22 left.
The Huskies (31-1) will meet either No. 9 DePaul or No. 10 Notre Dame
in the tournament final tonight (7; ESPN). They have advanced to the
final for the seventh straight season and the 21st time in the last 23
years.
UConn is looking to claim its fourth straight tournament championship
and its 17th overall.
Kelly Faris added 19 points, three rebounds and four assists for the
Huskies. Stefanie Dolson had 12 points (6-of-9 FG) and nine rebounds.
Lorin Dixon contributed six rebounds four assists and three steals in
27 minutes off the bench.
UConn had 22 assists on 24 field goals.
The Huskies (31-1) have won 68 straight games against Big East
opponents since a 73-71 loss at Rutgers Feb. 5, 2008. They have won
seven straight games against the Scarlet Knights (19-12) and an NCAA
record 80 straight games at home.
The game marked the first meeting the between the teams in the Big East
tournament since Rutgers defeated UConn 55-47 in the final in 2007.
That was the last at home for the Huskies, who are 6-1 against the
Scarlet Knights all-time in the event.
Erica Wheeler led Rutgers with 17 points (5-of-9 3-pointers) and five
rebounds.
Moore scored a season-low six points on 2-of-12 shooting in UConn's win
over Georgetown Sunday. She scored off of a cut down the lane just 47
seconds into the game Monday.
Moore made her first 3pointer with 16:13 left in the first half. And
with the Huskies leading 18-14 seven minutes later, she ignited a 13-2
run with a 3-pointer. Faris followed with a 3-pointer before Moore
added another.
Moore had eight points and one assist during the run. Hartley would
later convert an assist by Moore into a 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left
that gave the Huskies a 39-20 lead at the half. The play had broken
down when Moore spotted Hartley open on the wing.
UConn used an 8-0 run in span of 1:55 to open a 55-27 lead with 12:55
left.
UConn
women advance in Big East tourney
Day Staff Reports
Article published Mar 6, 2011
Hartford – The UConn women
advanced to the semifinals of the Big East Tournament on Sunday with a
59-43 win over Georgetown in the quarterfinals at the XL Center.
The top-seeded Huskies will play No.
4 Rutgers on Monday at 6 p.m. in the semifinals.
Stefanie Dolson led the
Huskies with 24 points. Tiffany Hayes had 10. Maya Moore scored a
season low six points.
SENIOR NIGHT
HONOR
One of the players, now up there on the wall with D...and Lorin, who
does us small people proud!
Jeff
Jacobs: A Senior Citizen's Joy Steals Senior Night
The Hartford
Courant
By JEFF JACOBS,
jjacobs@courant.com
1:13 AM EST, March 1, 2011
STORRS — Her legs twitched. Her feet
tapped the wooden court. As Lorin Dixon bounced through her Senior
Night introduction, the little New York guard was a study in nerves, a
hummingbird in Nikes.
Behind Dixon, Maya Moore stood,
regal, motionless. Before our eyes, the flesh and blood of the most
skilled player in UConn women's basketball history seemed to turn into
a bronzed statue in her own honor. And as The Verve's "Bittersweet
Symphony" played in the background, it seemed fitting.
And then Dixon's moment was
complete. The attention of Gampel Pavilion turned suddenly on Maya
Moore. You know what the statue did? She hid her face in her bouquet of
flowers. Like a 10-year-old. She had prepared herself for the
adulation. She had girded herself for the emotion. Yet with her mom,
Kathryn, holding onto one arm and her grandfather, Robert, holding onto
the other, the young woman who always seems prepared for everything
wasn't quite prepared for all of this.
"I might have lost it a bit behind
those daisies," Moore said. "I don't really know what triggered it.
Maybe hearing all that stuff laid out there that I don't think about it
… the accomplishments, the history. To deal with it all at once was
kind of overwhelming.
"Also, Lorin started crying and I
starting crying."
And then Moore, forever the serene
leader, looked over at Dixon after an 82-47 rout of Syracuse completed
another perfect Big East season. She smiled and said to her teammate,
"That's all right."
At 81, Robert Moore is an absolute
hoot. As the high points on the list of his granddaughter's
accomplishments were being read, he would holler and wave his arms.
And, make no mistake, when you've got two national titles, and only
three losses in four years, there were more high points than the
Himalayas. All-American, Player of the Year, Academic All-American over
and over and over …
"I thought we were going to miss the
first half," Geno Auriemma joked.
At one point even Maya rolled her
eyes. But Robert kept dancing around, folks kept cheering and by the
time she walked into the arms of Auriemma, there were more folks than
just Lorin Dixon and Maya Moore shedding tears.
"[Robert] made this night," Moore
said. "I'm lovin' it. I was happy. I know it was our Senior Night, but
he was the happiest one in the building. I love seeing a smile on his
face. I know even if I wasn't here, if I was doing something else, he
would be just as proud.
"He just loves me unconditionally.
I'm really glad he could be here and be a part of it. I know he'll
never forget it. He has brought so much joy to some of the people
around here."
Moore was named after the poet Maya
Angelou and that, too, is fitting. There is a certain perfection in her
verse. The poise, the thoughtfulness, the grace, the grades through the
roof, it's almost impossible to believe anyone in their early 20s could
be such. Portions of Angelou's famous poem, "Phenomenal Woman," come to
mind during her finest moments:
"I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud."
Don't get this wrong. It's not all
formality and maturity. During a timeout in the second half, Moore was
fooling around with Tiffany Hayes, styling, as "Whip My Hair" by Willow
Smith blared.
Yet there is unmistakable reserve in
Moore. Her father Mike Dabney, the former Rutgers star, was not a part
of her life until her senior year in high school. Even now, Moore does
not like to speak about him publicly. Although he attends a number of
UConn games, Dabney was not here on this Senior Night.
"I'm glad that all the people who've
been important in my life the last three years and even since I was a
little kid, my family, my teammates, were here," said Moore, who
finished with 23 points and eight rebounds.
You don't learn about people like
Maya Moore all at once. She allows you to see what she wants you to
see. We know her mom is her best friend, her mentor, her partner. It
was grand on this night to hear about granddad. Robert Moore was a
long-time school administrator, Moore said, originally from Detroit and
now from Chicago.
"I get a lot of the way I treat
people, I've had a great example in him," Moore said. "He is somebody
who will go out of his way to give you the shirt off his back, to make
sure you feel welcome. I know when I do that, it makes him proud. I
feel like I'm being like him whenever I try to do the same thing.
"He had a blast. I hope I can see
some of the pictures taken of him this time, because he's usually the
one taking pictures of everyone else."
The UConn women do Senior Night
better than anyone. And when you are enshrined on the Huskies of Honor
along with Taurasi, Lobo, et al, when you're still an active player,
well, it doesn't get much better than at Storrs.
"It's kind of like when I was on the
world championship team," Moore said. "I looked up to them all like I
was the little kid. I was just trying to follow the footsteps. I view
the women up there as big sisters. The rich history they've created
here, I just want to make them proud."
As Auriemma hugged her, told her to
enjoy this moment, he thought about the way Moore did what she did. She
had run the gamut from shooting freshman to senior leader and the only
thing left now is to take this team on her back and make history.
"Everything she gets is because of
Maya," Auriemma said. "I've had kids come here, they didn't need
professors. Give them a syllabus and book and they show up at the end
of the semester with a 3.5. Some players are like that. I would have
gotten all the blame if she turned out to be a schlep. But I don't
think I should get any credit for what she has done. She would have
done this no matter what."
Senior
night proves kind to Big East champs
Daily Campus
By Andrew Callahan, Staff
Writer
Published: Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Updated: Tuesday, March 1, 2011 00:03
Ten minutes prior to tipoff, the
Senior Night ceremonies were underway. The familiar voice of public
address announcer John Tuite bellowed off the walls of Gampel, but when
likes of Lorin Dixon and Maya Moore stepped to center court, it
disappeared in favor of deafening roars from the crowd which said all
that was needed.
"You know every arena in the country
has hoops," Moore said to the crowd after the game. "Every place has
players, coaches, seats, but this place is special. This place is
special because we have you guys."
"I just want to thank everyone here
for all the support you've given over our four years," Dixon announced.
"It's been really great, so thank you."
...Big East champions again
Following the game, the
Huskies were presented with their 19th Big East regular season
championship trophy. Dixon and Moore each hoisted the award after
receiving it from commissioner John Marinnato, much to the pleasure of
the crowd. It's the fifth consecutive regular season title for
Connecticut and the ninth time they've gone undefeated in conference.
"Especially this year, you see some
of the scores in other Big East games, you shake your head and say how
does that happen and the fact that hasn't happened to us in the last
three years and I told them that that's something to be proud of, to
show up… and figure out a way to win every night," Auriemma said. "I
find it remarkable, I really do."
Back in October, Auriemma remarked
that he did not believe they would go 16-0 against the Big East with
the departure of Tina Charles and Kalena Greene. But the Huskies beat
all conference foes by at least 10 points with the exception of West
Virginia and Notre Dame in South Bend.
Similar to UConn, each squad was
ranked in the top 10 at the time of their meeting, although in the
rematch with the Fighting Irish, UConn won handily, 78-57. The final
team to make Connecticut struggle was Georgetown, who held the Huskies
to 52 points last Saturday.
"This team pretty much doesn't get
affected by things," Auriemma said. "They stay pretty even-keeled and
that allows us to do what we do."
Senior moments
at Gampel Pavillion
Moore,
Dixon honored before No. 1 Huskies roll past Syracuse in regular-season
finale
By Vickie Fulkerson Day Sports Writer
Article published Mar 1, 2011
Storrs - It was a night for celebrations and there were certainly
enough of them for UConn, not all to do with an 82-47 victory over
Syracuse.
Maya Moore's 81-year-old grandfather Robert, from Chicago, whom she
credits with teaching her the kindness with which to treat people,
helped highlight UConn's senior night festivities at Gampel Pavilion
with several fist pumps every time another one of Moore's litany of
accomplishments was read.
"He was the happiest person in the building," said Moore, UConn's
soon-to-be four-time All-American.
Lorin Dixon's little brother Devin, 7, was also a big hit, accompanying
his sister to center court along with their parents.
The UConn athletes with 3.0 grade-point averages were honored.
All of the university's All-Americans were honored. Moore's
jersey No. 23 was unveiled on the women's basketball team's "Huskies of
Honor" wall.
And the UConn women ended the night by accepting the trophy for their
fifth straight Big East regular-season championship and 19th overall.
They also took the time to play an exceptionally good basketball game,
soundly beating Syracuse to finish the regular season 29-1 overall,
16-0 in the Big East, despite having just eight healthy players.
"I'm just happy with the way my team played. All the stuff surrounding
the game, you can enjoy it more when the game goes well," Moore said.
"You just kind of had to put it behind you for 40 minutes," Dixon said.
Moore finished with 23 points on 11-for-13 shooting, also making it a
celebration for her UConn teammates, who were racking up the assists as
she missed only two shots in the first half before going 4-for-4 in the
second half.
Dixon, normally UConn's first player off the bench, started alongside
Moore, her four-year roommate and friend. She finished with eight
points and seven assists, tying a career high in assists. Tiffany
Hayes added 18 points for the top-ranked Huskies, while Kelly Faris had
nine points, eight rebounds and five assists, Bria Hartley scored nine
points, and Stefanie Dolson had eight points and a career-high six
assists.
UConn's last victory was a 52-42 tug-of-war Saturday at Seton Hall,
complete with 26 Huskies turnovers, but Monday there were no remnants
of that style of play. UConn led Syracuse 49-20 at halftime and by as
many as 40 points with 12 minutes, 50 seconds remaining.
UConn, the top seed, will next play in the Big East tournament at 2
p.m. Sunday at the XL Center in Hartford. The Huskies are the
three-time defending champs of the league tournament and will face
either No. 9 Syracuse, No. 16 Seton Hall or No. 8 Georgetown in the
quarterfinal round.
"It just had a little bit of a different look," UConn coach Geno
Auriemma said of the performance. "I think we kinda got some things out
of the way since Saturday. We got pretty good games from everybody and
on a night like tonight, when there's all that feel-good stuff going
on, you want it to be like that. It's what makes nights like this
special: when you can play like that and enjoy it."
Auriemma greeted both his seniors and their families at half-court,
wrapping Moore and Dixon in warm embraces. His message?
"I was too busy in tears," Dixon said of trying to recall what her
coach said.
"He said, 'All the hard work is paying off,'" Moore said. "'You can
enjoy it.' It was kind of the moment he wanted to make sure I enjoy."
Moore, a 6-0 forward from Lawrenceville, Ga., is UConn's all-time
leading scorer and the Big East's all-time leading scorer with 2,871
points. She is the two-time national player of the year and was most
recently named the Academic All-American of the Year.
Dixon is a 5-4 guard from Springfield Gardens, N.Y., and playing the
best basketball of her career, her coach has said.
"I think it's more just wanting to be there for my team and give them
100 percent and just coming out with more confidence than I've ever had
my four years here," Dixon said. "I just wanted to come out on a good
note."
UConn
Hits March With 29 Wins, but Only 8
Players
NYTIMES
By JERÉ LONGMAN
February 28, 2011
STORRS, Conn.
Another March has arrived with a
heightened sense of anticipation and departure at Connecticut.
The feeling of exodus was acute
Monday at Senior Night. Maya Moore, the nation’s best player,
participated in her final regular-season home game. And one had to
wonder whether the curtain was about to close on the great drama that
has brought UConn two N.C.A.A titles and 107 victories in 108 games
over the past three seasons, including a record-setting 90 in a row.
The Huskies, 29-1 after Monday’s
82-47 victory over Syracuse, are ranked No. 1 in the country, but in
this jarring, Shakespearean season, they have been invincible and
vulnerable, robust and depleted, familiarly strong and unusually
weakened by graduation, injury and defection.
UConn is now left with eight
available players — four of them freshmen — heading into the Big East
tournament, where it is likely to face three games in three days. Then
comes the N.C.A.A. tournament, where the Huskies will attempt to become
the first team to win a national title with a roster too thin to hold a
decent scrimmage.
“It would shock me,” Coach Geno
Auriemma said of winning his eighth national title this season.
Really?
“There are times when we look like,
how does this team win any games?” Auriemma said Monday in his office.
“Let’s put it this way: nothing surprises me, but I would be surprised.
How could you not be?”
Five teams seemingly have a chance
at winning the national championship: UConn, Baylor, Stanford,
Tennessee and Texas A&M. All have flaws. Not one has dominated the
others. UConn beat Baylor, which beat Tennessee, which beat Stanford,
which beat UConn in this indeterminate circle of champions.
What worries Auriemma is that UConn
appears to have the smallest margin for error. It lacks the depth and
the size of the other favorites. Another injury, foul trouble, could be
devastating.
Tina Charles, the nation’s top
center, has graduated. Caroline Doty, the starting point guard, has
missed the entire season after a third torn anterior cruciate ligament
in her left knee. Samarie Walker, a freshman forward whose resistant
elbow helped keep Baylor’s Brittney Griner without a field goal for the
final 17 minutes of the first half against UConn in November, has since
transferred to Kentucky.
A looming absence is that of Elena
Delle Donne, the nation’s top recruit in 2008, a 6-foot-5 center who
left UConn after two weeks, homesick, burned out or wary of the
challenge.
“If someone got hurt or we get a
couple guys in foul trouble and they can’t finish a game, we just don’t
have enough,” Auriemma said.
He is also concerned that the
freshman point guard Bria Hartley and the freshman center Stefanie
Dolson could buckle under the weight of expectation, the way barns have
buckled under the weight of snow this winter.
Dolson has worked diligently to
improve her stamina and her effort. She has nimble feet and a reliable
medium-range shot but no understudy help off the bench.
Hartley has been erratic, delivering
critical baskets in that early, narrow victory over Baylor, scoring 29
points against Notre Dame last month. But she is also the first UConn
point guard since Jennifer Rizzotti was a freshman in 1992-93 to
collect more turnovers than assists.
“We’re asking them to play 30
minutes every night and be really good,” Auriemma said. “That’s asking
a lot with no margin for error. Ninety percent of the time, it’s not an
issue. Ten percent of the time, it is because you can’t give your
players a breather when they’re playing poorly. The fatigue and wear
and tear mentally is almost worse than physically.”
Doty wants to rejoin the team, he
said, but her repaired knee is not ready.
“That’s too risky,” he said. “I
wouldn’t do that to a kid.”
Auriemma has long believed that
scholarships should be lowered to 13 from 15 per team to spread the
wealth in women’s basketball. Doug Bruno, the coach at DePaul, has
argued for preserving the current level to protect against injuries.
“Maybe I’m starting to agree with
him,” Auriemma said.
Not that any of his coaching
brethren has sent a sympathy card. He laughed and said, “A lot of guys
are hoping we’ll be down to four players.”
And in the next breath, he said, “As
long as Maya Moore was one of the four, we could still beat some of
these teams.”
That, of course, is why UConn cannot
be written off. It may be shorthanded, but it still has the best player
in the country. Like Diana Taurasi, Moore thrives on pressure as if it
were oxygen. She has played center to relieve Dolson and, if not a
vocal leader, she has led by example, getting the necessary points, the
critical rebound, always playing in top gear.
“That’s a lot to carry around, the
idea that I’ve got to play great tonight or we’re going to lose,”
Auriemma said. “No one else has had to go through that except Diana.
And for the most part, Maya hasn’t had any bad games.”
There are other reasons for UConn to
be confident. It will play the first two rounds of the N.C.A.A.
tournament at home. And among current players, only those at UConn and
at Tennessee have won a national title.
In truth, Auriemma seems to fear
winning another title more than losing one.
“At what point does it stop being
expected?” he said. “When does reality set in? All this winning is
wearing on me. That’s a stupid statement, isn’t it? But it’s not
normal. Coaching and playing sports, it’s supposed to be you win, you
lose and regroup and tough it out, learn your lessons. Some people
actually thought we were going to win 100-some games in a row. That’s
not normal behavior. I’m sitting here every day going, ‘Man, what I
wouldn’t give for seven or eight losses in a year.’ Just so you could
say, ‘See what we’re doing is really hard.’ ”
UConn vs. Syracuse Post
Game Quotes (February 28, 2011)
UConn
Head Coach Geno Auriemma
Were you pleased
with the way tonight went?
"Yeah. I thought it was pretty
interesting. We had a little different look to us. I think we got some
things out of the way since Saturday and I'm just glad that everybody
contributed a little bit. It was just everybody standing around waiting
for somebody to do something great every possession. It was really
good. We got pretty good games from just about everybody, and on a
night like tonight when there was all that feel good stuff going on,
you want it to be like that, and it was. It's what makes nights like
this special, when you can play like that and enjoy it."
You have had
games where the emotion overcomes the team. Is it just the makeup of
this team that made tonight different?
"You've got 12, 13, 14 players over
there and they are all like `Ahh,' but we've only got seven or eight of
them. These guys, they aren't very effected by anything. I think they
took their cue from Maya and Lorin. Maya is not one to show a lot of
emotion, and Lorin had her moments out there. This team pretty much
doesn't get affected by things. I'm surprised. They stay pretty
even-keeled and I think that allows us to do what we do. When you saw
the scores of some of the other games tonight, it makes you wonder. It
makes you really appreciate that generally speaking, we don't do that
stuff."
Did the quick
start settle the team down too?
"I was worried that you come out and
try too hard early on, and I was worried that Maya would come out and
try too hard to be spectacular on Senior Night. We were in a pretty
good rhythm, a pretty good tempo for the most part. Lorin gave us a
huge spark and made some huge plays, and everyone fed off each other.
We've got three guys that still watch Maya and Tiffany, and when Maya
and Tiffany get off and running like they were today, it makes
everybody feel good. It makes everybody comfortable and makes everybody
calm down and gives them a lot of confidence."
Was tonight's
performance for Lorin Dixon kind of like a dream performance for on a
night like tonight?
"These last two weeks have been
unbelievable. She's gotten more done in the last two weeks than she has
in the four previous years combined, and it shows. Whatever it is that
you want to get done, mentally, physically, whatever, she's been able
to do it in practice for two weeks now. She generally hasn't been able
to do that and that's why she struggled in games. Tonight was just a
reflection of what's been happening in practice these last two weeks."
Do you have any
emotion on nights like tonight?
"Because it's not the last home
game, I don't. In all the years when we've had NCAA Tournament games
here in Connecticut, for me it comes out then when I know it's the
absolute end. We're not quite there yet. We've still got some stuff to
do."
UConn Players
Maya
Moore
On what senior
night was like for her:
"I'm just really happy of the way my
team played. All of the stuff surrounding the game I think you can
enjoy it more when the actual game goes well. We played outstanding and
it's kind of a mixed day because you want to play and be ready and
focused for the game, but you want to enjoy all the emotions that come
with having a senior night. I'm really happy with the way we played.
I'm glad that all the people who've been important in my life the last
three years and even since I was a little kid, my family being here, my
teammates being here. I got to hear from Tina (Charles) and former
players. I'm really thankful the way we helped our seniors go out, that
we were able to enjoy our senior night."
On her emotions
before the game:
"Yeah I might have lost it a bit
behind those daisies. I don't even know what triggered it - maybe
hearing all the stuff laid out there I don't think about it. The
accomplishments or a lot of the history - it's something that I don't
think about a lot during the season. But to have it all said at once,
it's kind of overwhelming. To think that I've been given so many
opportunities and that I've been a part of such a special group that I
was able to reach my potential in so many areas. Our team was able to
reach marks that nobody could have predicted. I think it started too
when she (Lorin Dixon) started crying and then I started crying."
On her
grandfather being there:
"He made this night. I was lovin'
it. I was happy. I know it was our senior night, but he was the
happiest one in the building. I love seeing a smile on his face. I know
even if I wasn't here and I was doing something else, he'd be just as
proud. He loves me unconditionally. I'm just really glad that he was
able to be here and see it and be a part of it and enjoy it. I know
he'll never forget it. He's brought so much joy to people around here.
I get a lot of the way that I treat people - I had a great example from
him. He's somebody that will go out of his way. He'll give you the
shirt right off of his back. He'll make sure you feel welcomed and
comfortable and included. I know when I do that, it makes him proud. I
feel like I'm just being like him whenever I try to do the same thing.
He had a blast. I hope I can see some of the pictures taken of him this
time. He's usually the one taking pictures.
On what coach
said to them (her and Lorin) when they embraced before the game:
"He was just saying to enjoy this.
That senior year is when you are seeing all the fruits of your labor.
That's the moment he wanted to make sure we were embracing. It was
special."
On being
enshrined in the Huskies of Honor before the game:
"It's kind of hard to describe. I
think it's kind of like when I was on the World Championship team. I
looked up to them all like I was the little kid. I was just trying to
follow the footsteps and be a part and learn from all the pro's that I
was around. I view the women up there as big sisters. The rich history
that they've created here, I just want to make them proud the rest of
the season here. When I'm done playing here, I'll be able to maybe have
a different feeling about it. Since I'm still playing, I want to make
sure that I continue to represent well and do the things that they did
to be great and to continue to do the things I'm doing."
Lorin
Dixon
On managing
senior night with having to play a game:
"I think with everything surrounding
today, you have to put it behind you for 40 minutes in the game. Even
though she was crying and all that, Maya still told us we had a game to
play. We had to go out there and get ready and it's something I
definitely listened to her about."
On why things are
coming together so well now:
"It's the end of my season. I think
it's more just wanting to be there for my team and give them
100-percent and just coming out with more confidence than I've ever had
my four years here. Putting that all together, I just wanted to come
out on a good note. I've been playing a lot better than I have in the
past."
Syracuse
Head Coach Quentin Hillsman
Opening Statement:
"Obviously we are never happy with a
loss, I thought that we came out competing and we were playing hard.
Obviously they are the number one team in the country for a reason,
they played like it tonight. They shot 60% from the field and it felt
like 80%. You have to give them a lot of credit. We came here to win
and obviously we ran into a team that is very, very hot and a very,
very good team. Geno does a great job of getting them ready to play no
matter who the opponent is. Their best players played very well
tonight."
Do you just
scrape a game like this and move onto Saturday now?
"We don't scrape too many losses,
that's not how we work. We wanted to come out and play hard and win the
basketball game, but you do need to move on. We need to go back and
really look at some things, because if we want to compete and play well
in the tournament we need to find a way to play better in these kinds
of games."
Can you talk
about the BIG EAST Conference?
"It is an unbelievable conference,
it is the best conference in the country. Before the game Geno and I
talked about how we go into conference games and we beat each other up
and if you are in the 20th range of being ranked you are just going to
have to go out and play hard. We don't lose too many games out of our
conference so the BIG EAST is very tough."
What was UConn
doing that caused problems during the first half with turnovers?
"We had 11 turnovers in the first
half and I was pretty pleased with that. We came out in the second half
and had only six turnovers. I don't think the turnovers were the
problem I think it was more so that we didn't make shots. We did a good
job of getting the ball inside, and did well with that tonight."
How have you seen
Stefanie Dolson improve?
"I knew she would get better because
she is a great basketball player. Geno is going to get her to play hard
and she is a very skilled player. It was a tough scout for us with her
she can do a lot for them. Obviously she is a tough player and I hope
that our players can progress as fast as she has."
Do you think a
lack of depth with hurt them in the post season at all?
"No. Their six players are better
than most six players in the country. The only thing that can hurt them
is if three of them get in foul trouble and that won't happen because
they are too good of a defensive basketball team."
Would you put
UConn among the favorite of the teams to win the tournament?
"Yes I would. During tournament play
I think it comes down to who has the best player and Geno has the best
player. When you get in to these tournament games there are going to be
some close games and nobody is going to be able to stop Maya. And that
is the key when you look at good basketball teams."
Moore, after Senior
Night ceremony, powers UConn
CT POST
Rich Elliott, Staff Writer
Updated 09:44 p.m., Monday, February
28, 2011
STORRS -- The list of accolades
seemed as if it would never end. For a player of this magnitude, these
things take time.
Along with fellow senior Lorin
Dixon, All-American Maya Moore was honored Monday during a moving
pregame Senior Night ceremony in the final regular season game of their
career. The more the awards were read aloud by the public address
announcer the more Moore's grandfather, Robert, pumped his left fist
next to her.
Once the game started Moore proved
why she will graduate as the most decorated player in team history. She
had 23 points (11-of-13 FG), eight rebounds, three assists and three
steals to power the top-ranked UConn to an 82-47 victory over Syracuse
before 10,167 at Gampel Pavilion.
The Huskies (28-1, 16-0 Big East)
capped their third straight unbeaten season in the Big East. It is
their ninth unbeaten season in conference play since the 1994-95
season. They were presented with the navy blue Big East championship
trophy and championship T-shirts in the wake of clinching their fifth
straight regular season championship (19th overall).
UConn will begin its quest for a
fourth straight -- 17th overall -- Big East tournament championship in
the quarterfinals Sunday at the XL Center (2 p.m.; ESPNU).
Moore became the 13th player
inducted into the Huskies of Honor before the game. She was also
honored at halftime with Heather Buck, Caroline Doty and Kelly Faris
for earning a 3.0 GPA during the 2010 spring or fall semester.
Moore is the all-time leading scorer
in UConn and Big East history and is 11th all-time in Division I
history with 2,871 points. She is ranked second in team history in made
3-pointers (294), third in rebounding (1,198), fourth in steals (292)
and blocks (194) and eighth in assists (525).
Tiffany Hayes added 18 points
(4-of-7 3-pointers), four rebounds and three assists for the Huskies
Monday. Bria Hartley had nine points and four rebounds, while Kelly
Faris had nine points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Dixon, who started the game at point
guard, had eight points and seven assists. Stefanie Dolson finished
with eight points, five rebounds and a career-high six assists.
Iasia Hemingway led Syracuse with 13
points and seven rebounds.
The Orange (21-8, 9-7) had won five
straight Big East games for the first time since winning six straight
during the 1987-88 season. They have lost 20 straight games and 27 of
28 against UConn.
The Huskies showed no ill effects of
two subpar poor performances against Seton Hall and Georgetown last
week. Hayes made two 3-pointers and Moore also had six points as UConn
opened the game with an 18-4 run.
The Huskies made eight of their
first 10 shots. Syracuse committed six turnovers during a scoreless
stretch of 4:02.
It was just the beginning for UConn.
The Huskies would made 15 of their first 19 shots to open a 36-14 lead
with 6:45 left in the half. They led by 49-20 at halftime, shooting
61.3 percent from the field and scoring 19 points off of 11 turnovers
by the Orange.
Moore scored seven points in the
first 3:33 of the second half to help UConn open a 58-22 lead.
The Huskies' lead swelled to 40
(68-28) with 12:50 left on back-to-back 3-pointers by Hayes.
Huskies Honor Moore And Dixon, Then Wrap Up
Unbeaten Big East Regular Season
By JOHN ALTAVILLA,
jaltavilla@courant.com
7:59 PM EST, February 28, 2011
STORRS —
Back in October, it wasn't unusual
for Geno Auriemma to say he expected this could be one of those seasons.
There was so much uncertainty. Tina
Charles and Kalana Greene were gone. Caroline Doty was out for the year
with an injured knee. Five freshmen dominated his roster of 10 and
national powers dotted the schedule.
You could understand why Auriemma
felt anything was possible, perhaps even impossible.
Turns out he was correct, although
in a different context than he intended.
It has been one of those seasons in
Storrs — one of those Big East regular season championship seasons.
The No. 1 Huskies saluted seniors
Lorin Dixon and Maya Moore, then unveiled Moore's Wall of Honor banner,
the 13th player so honored.
And then they honored the history of
their program by defeating Syracuse 82-47 to wrap up UConn's ninth
unbeaten conference season.
The Huskies (29-1, 16-0) have won 66
straight Big East games since a 73-71 loss at Rutgers on February 5,
2008. That was the only regular season loss in the Big East careers of
Dixon and Moore, who were 63-1 in the league in their four years. They
are 143-3 overall at UConn.
UConn begins play in the Big East
tournament as the No. 1 seed Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Huskies were led by Moore with
24 points (11 of 13) before she was replaced with just under nine
minutes to play. She scored 12 in the first 10 minutes, when UConn blew
the game open by making 12 of 15 shots. She also had eight assists.
Tiffany Hayes added 18 points,
hitting 4 of 7 three-point shots.
It was an inspired effort by both
Moore and Dixon, whose play the past two weeks has finally begun to
resemble what the Huskies expected of her coming out of high school.
They scored 20 of UConn's 34 points
in the first 12:26. Dixon, who hardly ever shoots, drained two jumpers
from opposite sides of the lane, including a three, just the 13th of
her career. She made her first three shots.
UConn women
rout Syracuse on senior night
New Lodnon DAY
Vickie Fulkerson
Article published Feb 28, 2011
Storrs — Maya Moore had 23 points on 11-for-13 shooting and Lorin Dixon
eight points and seven assists as the two celebrated their senior night
at Gampel Pavilion on Monday night, with No. 1 UConn’s 82-47 victory
over Syracuse in the Big East Conference.
Tiffany Hayes added 18 points for the Huskies, who finished the regular
season 29-1 overall, 16-0 in the Big East. UConn previously clinched
its 19th Big East regular-season title and fifth straight in Saturday’s
win over Georgetown.
The top-seeded Huskies will next play in the Big East tournament Sunday
at the XL Center in Hartford.
UConn led 49-20 at halftime behind 14 points from Moore and by as many
as 40 points with 12 minutes, 50 seconds to play in the game. Moore, a
three-time All-American and the Huskies’ all-time leading scorer, had
her jersey No. 23 added to the “Huskies of Honor” wall during the
pregame festivities.
Syracuse (21-8, 9-7), was led by 13 points from Iasia Hemingway.
Georgetown vs. Connecticut: Top-ranked
Huskies slog to victory
By Andy Marso
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, February 27, 2011; 12:02 AM
For the top-ranked Connecticut
women's basketball team, just winning isn't good enough. For
Georgetown, where winning is now an expectation rather than an
aspiration, moral victories are no longer satisfying.
So both teams left jam-packed
McDonough Arena with a bad taste in their mouths Saturday after the
Huskies beat the 18th-ranked Hoyas, 52-42. The Hoyas did everything they wanted to
do with their pressure defense, holding the Huskies to a season low in
points and forcing them into a season-high 26 turnovers. But
Georgetown's own offensive struggles kept it from notching the biggest
win in program history.
"Yes, it was a great effort, but I
think we're past the days of measuring effort," Georgetown senior
Monica McNutt said. "It goes down as a loss, and we gave it away."
As usual, three-time all-American
Maya Moore led the way for Connecticut, finishing with 20 points, 8
rebounds and 5 assists. Her
team clinched the Big East regular season title, but there was no
celebration. The Huskies are competing with their own legend now and
they walked off the court Saturday as if they'd lost that battle.
"I think we did not execute the way
we wanted to and it made it less sweet for us," Moore said. "We've
never been a team that's solely focused on the win. It's always been
how we win."
Georgetown never led Saturday, but
the Hoyas kept sticking around. They were within 28-19 with less than a
minute left in the first half, but a foul late in the shot clock led to
two Connecticut free throws. Then Bria Hartley's three-pointer from the
corner a second before the buzzer sent the Huskies into the half with a
33-19 lead and momentum.
"We can't have those type of
mistakes," Georgetown Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said of the costly
foul. "When you're playing a team like Connecticut, you can't do things
like that."
It was Senior Day for Georgetown but
the only senior, McNutt, had taken just one shot at halftime. She gave
the team a lift after the break, though, making three straight
three-pointers to cut the deficit to 35-28.
"We knew we were down 14, we had to
come out firing and we wanted to cut the lead immediately," McNutt
said. "My teammates found me, my coaches believed in me and I knocked
down some shots."
But those were the only shots McNutt
would make. Sugar Rodgers led the team with 16 points, but she shot 6
of 20 from the field. As a team, the Hoyas shot 25.9 percent and turned
over the ball 18 times.
Still, they kept chipping into the
lead, mostly because the Huskies were turning over the ball right back.
"It's unwatchable when it's like
that," Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma said. "I think Georgetown had
something to do with that, but whenever stuff like that happens it's
not just one team. It's a combination of Georgetown playing really hard
and being really aggressive in their traps and Connecticut players
being kind of tentative and going backwards instead of attacking."
Connecticut (28-1, 15-0) remained
undefeated in the brutal Big East. Georgetown (21-8, 9-6) fell to
seventh, but Williams-Flournoy said that was still well within range of
an NCAA tournament bid.
Huskies
Struggle To Get Past Hoyas
UConn Commits 26 Turnovers
By JOHN ALTAVILLA, jaltavilla@courant.com
9:21 PM EST, February 26, 2011
WASHINGTON — In a few years memories of one poor afternoon will
fade and all that will remain will be evidence of a greater body of
work.
The No. 1 UConn women may have played their worst game of the Big East
season Saturday at No. 18 Georgetown. It was a mess, really. But the
Huskies won 52-42 before a cozy sellout crowd of 2,509 at McDonough
Arena.
UConn clinched its 19th Big East regular season title in 23 years and
the top seed in the conference tournament March 4-8 at the XL Center.
"You don't think about those things during the season, but after it's
over and you look back and you are reminded how remarkable an
accomplishment that is," coach Geno Auriemma said. "But it's getting
harder every year, obviously."
The Huskies (28-1, 15-0) will attempt to wrap up their third straight
unbeaten conference season against Syracuse on Monday, which is Senior
Night.
Preferably, they hope to be able to do it with a little more panache
than they did against the stubborn Hoyas, who forced UConn into a
season-high 26 turnovers, 14 in the first half.
"It's just crazy to be that close," Georgetown's Monica McNutt said.
"Look at the statistics. This was Georgetown basketball and we couldn't
close it out. We gave one away and I'm a little sour about that."
The Huskies were led again by Maya Moore, who scored 20 points. But
they scored only 19 in the second half and were held to a season low in
points.
That may have been why any attempt at celebration by the Huskies was
muted.
"We did not execute our offense the way we usually do," Moore said.
"That made [the clinching] less sweet. We never focus solely on wins.
We want to do things the right way. We knew we didn't so it's not as
sweet."
Of the 26 turnovers, 16 belonged to the upperclassmen — Tiffany Hayes
(six), Moore (five) and Lorin Dixon (five).
"It's unwatchable when [play] is like that," Auriemma said. "But I
think Georgetown had something to do with that. Whenever something like
that happens it's not just the fault of one team. Georgetown was
aggressive and Connecticut was tentative and moved backwards instead of
attacking."
Georgetown was 15 of 58 from the field, including 5 of 27 on
three-pointers.
"You force 26 turnovers, you need to be able to convert some of those
into points," Hoyas coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said.
Auriemma was beside himself. At one point in the second half, after a
couple of misplays by Kelly Faris, he twirled around and slammed his
fist into his vacated chair.
What eventually saved the Huskies were occasional points from Moore.
She didn't have a great game, but she made two three-pointers in the
first 15 minutes and that's what kept them afloat.
Georgetown's Sugar Rodgers (16 points, 6 of 20) buried a three with
5:16 to play to cut the lead to 44-40 and Auriemma called another
timeout. But out of that timeout came five quick points, a layup by
Stefanie Dolson and a three-pointer by Hayes with 3:50 to play that
rebuilt the lead to 49-40.
This was UConn's first game without sophomore center Heather Buck, who
will be sidelined at least two weeks with a stress reaction of the left
ankle.
UConn women
trip Georgetown, clinch Big East top seed
CT POST
Joseph White, Associated Press
Updated 07:25 p.m., Saturday, February 26, 2011
WASHINGTON -- Maya Moore scored 20 points, and No. 1 Connecticut
overcame a season-high 26 turnovers against No. 18 Georgetown's
helter-skelter defense, holding on for a 52-42 win Saturday that
clinched the top seed in the Big East tournament.
The Huskies repeatedly found themselves unable to get the ball
downcourt -- they turned it over an incredible eight times in 10
possessions during a 6-minute stretch in the second half -- but
countered with some solid defense of their own, holding Georgetown to
26 percent shooting.
The Huskies (28-1, 15-0), who returned this week to the top of The
Associated Press poll, had their lowest point total in at least three
years as they won their 16th straight game -- 15 of them by double
digits.
They've won 65 straight against Big East opponents and 24 in a row
against Georgetown.
UConn women slog past game Seton Hall
team
Huskies
'just OK' for too much of Big East win over Pirates
By Vickie Fulkerson Day Sports
Writer
Article published Feb 23,
2011
Hartford - When Seton Hall made the
trip to South Bend, Ind., to face Notre Dame earlier this month, the
Pirates trailed early and "folded," according to coach Anne Donovan,
losing by more than 50.
"We didn't compete," said Donovan,
the former WNBA and U.S. Olympic coach in her first year at Seton Hall.
"It was quite embarrassing, honestly."
This time, Donovan, her last-place
team in the Big East Conference on the road once again to take on the
best team in the league and the nation, challenged her team to play for
pride. And the Pirates did just that.
No. 1 UConn, trying to get to the
finish line with a Big East regular-season title, gave up 11 3-point
field goals to Seton Hall in an 80-59 victory Tuesday before 11,249
fans at the XL Center. It
was the most 3-pointers allowed by the Huskies since Feb. 24, 2007,
against Villanova and it was the highest number of points allowed since
Jan. 8 when UConn played at Notre Dame. Only four teams all season -
Baylor, Florida State, Stanford and Notre Dame - have scored more
against the Huskies.
UConn led 38-27 at halftime before
breaking the game open with an 18-2 run to start the second half.
"Except for like a 7-8-minute
stretch there at the beginning of the second half, the other 25-30
minutes was more about Seton Hall than it was about Connecticut," UConn
coach Geno Auriemma said.
"It's not one of those games where
you feel like you got everything accomplished that you want to get
accomplished. That's a function of what Seton Hall was doing."
Maya Moore had 20 points, six
rebounds, five assists and three blocks for UConn (27-1, 14-0), despite
scoring just seven points in the first half on 2-for-10 shooting,
keeping the Huskies a game up on DePaul in the Big East race with two
games to play. Bria
Hartley scored 17 points and fellow freshman Stefanie Dolson had 14
points and five rebounds. Tiffany Hayes had 10 points, six rebounds and
four assists and Kelly Faris 11 rebounds and six assists.
Auriemma jokingly attributed the
early second-half run to his halftime speech, in which he referred to
the 6-foot-5 Dolson, who was consistently beating Seton Hall in the
post, scoring 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting by halftime.
"I said, 'For the rest of the game,
just throw the ball to Stefanie,'" Auriemma said. "They all got
(ticked) and came out and started making jump shots and driving to the
basket, like, 'I'll show him.'"
Moore and Hartley hit back-to-back
3-pointers to start the half and combined for 16 of the 18 points
during the decisive run.
Seton Hall (9-19, 1-13) hit eight
3-pointers in the second half, though, three by Brittany Morris.
Jazzmine Johnson scored 14 points for the Pirates, who won their only
Big East game on Feb. 12 at Cincinnati. Morris finished with four
3-pointers for 12 points.
"This wasn't the focus that we could
have started the game with. It's too late in the season for us not to
all come out with the same focus and intensity," UConn's Moore said.
"It's definitely something that shows we need to continue to work and
get better."
Auriemma said he understands the
team's lulls - the Huskies played for first place against Notre Dame on
Saturday and came back with a game against last-place Seton Hall. On a
team that is playing only six players with regularity, it can be
mentally taxing, he said.
"Do I understand it? Yeah," he said.
"I wasn't really that upset about it. I wasn't anything really. We
played. We won. It's time to move on. There were just too many moments,
too many minutes, too many stretches of just OK basketball."
UConn plays at No. 18 Georgetown on
Saturday with a chance to clinch at least a share of the regular-season
title with a win.
Anne
Donovan On A Variety Of Topics
By John Altavilla on February
22, 2011 10:31 PM
Seton Hall coach Anne Donovan has
won a WNBA championship and an Olympic gold medal as a coach. She has
also won 1 her first 14 Big East games in her first season at Seton
Hall...
Here's Donovan on a variety of
topics:
On whether Diana Taurasi or Miss
Maya is a better player:
"Well I won't go there, but
they are two of my favorite players. I have never had the pleasure of
coaching Maya, but with Diana, I love competitiveness and you can't put
a price on that. Geno has gotten that in ten-fold here in Connecticut.
I have never met anyone more competitive and also someone that is the
best teammate, she brings out the best in everyone around her. I
haven't been able to coach Maya to say what kind of teammate she is,
but I can speculate pretty darn good. The versatility that she has from
behind the three point line and in the post, and she has a passion for
it like Diana."
On whether she talks about Diana to
her team and uses her as an influence?
"I do, Diana, Tamika
Catchings, Cappie Pondexter, I have been fortunate to coach some of the
best players and my kids are hungry to learn about those players. They
have loved watching them and they are hungry to do what it takes to get
to that level."
On not being able to look down her
bench and find a go to player...
"It is the biggest difference, you
can't draw up a play and have a go to player. Jasmine Crew is probably
the closest I have to that to go get a bucket. It is very different
because you are trying to orchestrate with five players and keep some
of them out of the way and get your primary looks to get the ball in
their hands. It is much more complicated than in the pros when you
could rely on someone. It is just a different game now."
What have she has been able to
translate to this group from her previous experience?
"I think most of the girls came and
watched the New York Liberty [who she coached last season]. so their
hunger has really helped me. Who I have been able to coach, what my
background has been with the Olympics and the WNBA, they are hungry to
get whatever they can from me. That has helped me from the credibility
standpoint. I have coached a long time so there have been a lot of
different situations and different rosters and trying to bring out the
best in the rosters that I have had and that has helped me throughout
my career."
UConn
happy with win but not effort against Seton Hall
NHREGISTER
Tuesday, February
22, 2011
UConn's standard of success and
high-quality play is at such an elite level that even a 21-point
victory can be a cause of discontent
Playing disjointed and lethargic for
long stretches, UConn was never in danger of losing to Seton Hall but
was left longing for a better performance than the one it put forth on
Tuesday night.
"I don't remember the last time
someone made 10 3's on us, so credit to them for making some tough
shots," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said of Seton Hall which had a
season-high 11 3-pointers. "Except for a 7-10 minute stretch at the
beginning of the second half where it began to look like the
Connecticut team that we are used to seeing, the other 25-30 minutes it
was more about Seton Hall than it was about Connecticut.
"I think it also illustrates that
when you make shots like we did in the second half, we made free
throws, it covers up a lot of things. This was one of those nights
where we didn't turn the ball over, we shot great from the free throw
line, we played well for a stretch of minutes in the second half but it
wasn't one of those games where you feel like you got everything
accomplished that you wanted to get accomplished."
With the Seton Hall game sandwiched
between the Huskies' impressive win over Notre Dame and Saturday's game
at Georgetown, it was only natural that there would be a bit of a
letdown by the Huskies.
"It's a natural occurrence,
especially when one day you are playing a game that was for first place
in the league and the next day you are playing the team that is tied
for last in the league," Auriemma said. "That's probably when a thin
bench shows itself, because if you were consistently playing eight or
nine players you would be able to kind of keep running people out there
and not having to tax people mentally as much. Do I understand it?
'Yes.' I just thought that we played, we won and its time to move on.
But it wasn't anything that we can go back tomorrow and look at as
something that was really, really helpful to us for the most part. I
understand it. I know these things happen. It didn't matter what the
final score was. Us winning by 20, 30 or 40 - it just didn't play out
right. There were just too many moments, too many minutes, too many
long stretches of just ok basketball. On to the next one. We have two
left, do the same thing we've done all year long. Saturday/Monday, one
on the road, one at home. It seems like the last couple of years we've
had a million of those and I hope this Saturday/Monday go as well as a
whole bunch of the other Saturday/Mondays have gone."
If DePaul loses to Louisville on
Wednesday, UConn will clinch a share of the Big East title. If DePaul
wins out, UConn can still secure at least a share of the program's 19th
Big East regular-season title and the top seed in the Big East
tournament with a win at Georgetown on Saturday or victory against
Syracuse in Monday's regular-season finale.
"It was probably not a great thing
to talk about with some of our guys, because I brought it up something
the other day that the freshman can enjoy something that was meaningful
for them, that they had something to do, which is hopefully win a
regular season championship in the toughest league in the country,"
Auriemma said with a sly grin. "If they did what I think they are
capable of doing and go undefeated in the league, at this time when
seven teams in the league are in the top 25, that would be something
really, really meaningful if they can pull it off. They were so
inspired and jacked up that they came out tonight and just let me know
`We've got our own agenda. We're not really interested in what you have
to say all of the time.' Saturday and Monday will be interesting."
Notre Dame women's basketball: Win should put Connecticut back in No. 1
spot
By CURT RALLO, South Bend Tribune Staff Writer
19 Feb. 2011
STORRS, Conn. - Notre Dame pulled
out the green uniforms.
Irish coach Muffet McGraw took her
team back to the locker room to avoid the thunderous introduction of
the two-time defending national champ Connecticut women's basketball
team. And the Irish
didn't allow UConn great Maya Moore to score until 5:30 remained in the
first half. But mighty Connecticut still had more
than enough firepower to deny Notre Dame's women's basketball team in
its attempt at an upset in one of college basketball's most hostile
environments.
No. 2 Connecticut overcame a fast
start by Notre Dame and pulled away for a 78-57 victory in Big East
Conference action Saturday afternoon. Not that UConn needed any extra incentive
taking it to the Irish, but at the 7:25 mark of the second half, with
Connecticut leading 63-44, the Huskies' student section started
chanting, “Baylor lost.”
Top-ranked Baylor's 56-45 loss to
Texas Tech on Saturday, combined with Connecticut's impressive showing
against Notre Dame, will likely put the Huskies back on top of the
rankings. UConn fell out of first place after its record 90-game
winning streak was ended by Stanford on Dec. 30.
No. 8 Notre Dame (22-5, 11-2 Big
East) doesn't get much rest before it steps into another hostile court.
The Irish are at West Virginia on Tuesday (7 p.m. EST tip-off). UConn
(26-1, 13-0) extended its homecourt winning streak to 76 games.
Bria Hartley stepped up to lead
UConn with 29 points. Moore, shut down by the Irish in the first half,
ended up with 12. Stephanie Dolson, who took away the Irish inside
game, scored 15.
Skylar Diggins, wearing UConn
defenders all over her jersey most of the day, scored 22 to lead the
Irish. Diggins kept Notre Dame in the game early, unleashing a lethal
pull-up jumper to tear in to the Huskies' defense for 17 points in the
first half. Natalie Novosel scored 18.
“Skylar hit some pretty amazing
shots in the first half,” McGraw said. “She carried us.”
Diggins' performance also impressed
UConn coach Geno Auriemma.
“… Skylar Diggins seemed like she
made every shot,” Auriemma said. “For somebody to have 17 on us in the
first half …. (Skylar) has gotten a lot better. I don't know if she
could have done what she did today against us (earlier this season),
and certainly not last year. Last year she was a little overwhelmed,
and now she looks like a different player.”
Diggins finished 8-of-18, worn down
at the end by the UConn defense.
“Executing our offense,” is how
Diggins explained her torrid first half. “My team did a good job of
giving me the ball with ball screens. They did a good job of finding my
defender.”
Notre Dame's inside game, hampered
by foul trouble, only got 21 minutes out of Devereaux Peters and 31
minutes out of Becca Bruszewski. Peters, Bruszewski and Natalie Achonwa
were a combined for 3-of-19 shooting. The 6-foot-5 Dolson dominated
inside.
“We got the start we wanted,” McGraw
said of her club taking a 9-2 lead. “We came out and played really well
at the start. Then, we just got completely overwhelmed. Not having
Becca and Devereaux hurt us a little bit early, but still, we were
within striking distance at the half (37-29). Then, we just laid an egg
in the second half.”
“Hartley had a great game,” McGraw
continued. “She was somebody we were actually trying to guard. I was
disappointed in the defense on her. She really shot the ball well. She
had a great game on a night when Maya has almost human numbers. You
hope you can win a game when Maya is human.”
Two key factors hurt the Irish in
the first half. Notre Dame missed eight free throws in the first 20
minutes, including the front-end of a one-and-bonus. And Peters sat out
the last 14:09 with two fouls. Peters, who entered the game averaging
11.2 points, ended up scoreless.
It was all UConn in the second half,
as the Huskies opened up with a 16-4 run.
“I was just taking advantage
of what the defense game me,” Hartley said. “If I had the open shot, I
took it. If they came out on me, I made sure to drive by them.”
UConn women:
Dolson’s involvement is what drives UConn
By JOE PEREZ
Norwich Bulletin
Posted Feb 19, 2011 @ 10:39 PM
Storrs, Conn. —
If something happens once or twice,
it’s an anomaly. When it starts to happen on a regular basis, it’s a
trend.
The latest trend with the UConn
women’s basketball team is establishing freshman center Stefanie Dolson
early in games.
It continued Saturday in No. 2
UConn’s 78-57 win over No. 8 Notre Dame. The Huskies fed Dolson early,
who struggled. In the first 10 minutes, she had two baskets, but missed
three and committed two turnovers.
Still, she settled down nicely to
finish with 15 points, five rebounds and four steals.
“I think they are looking for her
more and she is delivering,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. “She
is a big player and she is hard to guard when she gets in the paint and
she is able to just turn and shot. It is hard to double team her
because you can’t get there fast enough.”
As Dolson’s play went on an upward
swing over the last month, so has the team’s efforts to get her going
offensively.
Against Providence, Dolson scored
eight of her team’s first 12 points and she had eight of 10 Huskies
points against DePaul. Coming into Saturday, Dolson was averaging 16.8
points, 7.5 rebounds per game with a 71.4 field goal percentage in her
last four games.
“We’ve been focusing on that a
little bit more, just getting the ball in the post,” Dolson said on
Friday. “Because Coach (Geno Auriemma) sees we have advantages in the
post and he’s been working on having the guards learn different ways of
getting (the ball) in to the post because we’ve gotten a lot of
turnovers in post entry. So, it’s definitely been an emphasis, I don’t
think it just happened.”
Dolson played much better this time
around against Notre Dame than she did on Jan. 8. In that game, Dolson
was pushed around by the Irish’s deep frontline. Even though she
finished with nine points and eight rebounds that day, she looked
overmatched.
Since then, she’s made great strides.
“If you’re Stefanie and you really
want the ball and you act like and carry yourself in the lane and
demand the ball, we’ll throw it to you,” Auriemma said. “That wasn’t
happening the first game we played them.”
Numbers game
Notre Dame entered the game third in
the Big East in free-throw percentage at 71.5 percent. But the Irish
left many points on the floor with a substandard effort from the line.
They shot 46.7 percent in the first half and 60 in the second for 55.6
(12 of 21) for the game.
Ouch
“It was really ugly; I was hoping
they went to a split screen and everybody would turn their TV off.” —
McGraw, referencing ESPN’s unpopular split-screen technique, when
discussing the first opening minutes of the second half for her team.
UConn expanded an eight-point lead to 20 within 7 minutes, 2 seconds.
Back to the top
By virtue of the Huskies’ win and
No. 1 Baylor losing to unranked Texas Tech on Saturday, UConn should
return to the top of the Top 25 polls to start the week.
UConn had been ranked No. 1 for a
record 51 consecutive weeks until the Jan. 3 poll following its loss at
Stanford. With a series of impressive blowout victories, the Huskies
had been closing the gap on the Lady Bears.
Rankings don’t really matter to the
Huskies, who have been the top-ranked team heading into the last two
NCAA tournaments.
“I think its harder sometimes going
in as a No. 1,” forward Maya Moore said. “It’s easier to get
complacent; you can lose your focus because you can think you already
arrived. So I think it’s actually harder.”
Copyright 2011
Norwich Bulletin. Some rights reserved
Hartley leads UConn women past Notre
Dame
Rich Elliott, CT POST
Published 04:10 p.m., Saturday,
February 19, 2011
STORRS -- This season has been about
taking ownership for the freshmen on the UConn women's basketball team.
Coach Geno Auriemma urged them during the preseason to make an impact
this season.
For point guard Bria Hartley, it's
been a process. Thrown into the starting lineup right from the outset,
she has endured stretches of brilliance and stretches during which she
has struggled.
But with an opportunity to move one
step closer to winning a Big East championship Saturday against No. 8
Notre Dame, Hartley seized control for second-ranked UConn. She scored
a career-high 29 points (5-of-9 3-pointers) and had five assists to
lead the Huskies to a 78-57 victory before a sellout crowd of 10,167 at
Gampel Pavilion.
Hartley scored 14 in the first half
to help UConn overcome an early seven-point deficit. She left the game
to a standing ovation with 2:33 left.
The Huskies (26-1, 13-0 Big East)
continue to hold a one-game lead over No. 10 DePaul in the Big East
standings with three remaining. UConn will host Seton Hall Tuesday at
the XL Center and Syracuse at Gampel Pavilion Feb. 28 before traveling
to Georgetown Feb. 26.
The Huskies, who have won 63
straight games against Big East opponents, are seeking their fourth
straight conference regular-season championship and their 19th overall.
With Baylor's 56-45 loss at unranked Texas Tech Saturday, UConn is also
poised to regain the top spot in the national polls.
Notre Dame (22-5, 11-2) has
virtually been eliminated from the regular-season race with the loss,
dropping two games behind UConn. The Irish had won a season-high nine
straight games since suffering a 79-76 loss to the Huskies at Purcell
Pavilion Jan. 8.
The Huskies have won an NCAA record
76 straight games at home since a 55-47 loss to Rutgers in the Big East
tournament final at the XL Center March 6, 2007. They have won 46
straight at Gampel Pavilion dating back to a 60-56 loss to Rutgers Feb.
7, 2006.
Stefanie Dolson added 15 points,
five rebounds and a career-high four steals for the Huskies. Tiffany
Hayes had 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists
Maya Moore finished with 12 points,
seven rebounds and seven assists. She became the 15th player in
Division I history to reach 2,800 points (2,808) and is currently
ranked No. 14.
The Huskies, who have won 11
straight games against Notre Dame, shot 54.7 percent from the field.
They scored 31 points off of turnovers.
Skylar Diggins scored 17 of her 22
points in the first half to lead the Irish. Natalie Novosel added 18.
Notre Dame shot 36.3 percent and
committed 18 turnovers.
The Huskies opened the game by
committing five turnovers in the first 4:36. They trailed 7-0 and 9-2
before settling down.
The deficit was 16-12 after Diggins
made a 3-pointer with 12:28 left in the half. At that point, she had 11
for the Irish. But it was at that point that UConn gained control.
Hartley had eight points as the
Huskies ripped off a 12-1 run to take their first lead of the game.
Notre Dame missed eight straight shots from the field and coach Muffet
McGraw called her third 30-second timeout of the half during this
stretch.
UConn led by as many as 10 in the
half, 37-29 at halftime despite committing 12 turnovers. Hartley had 14
in the half and the Huskies shot 53.3 percent from the field.
Moore did not score until there was
5:28 left. She had missed her first three shots of the game.
The Huskies started the second half
fast as Hayes and Moore each hit a 3-pointer in the opening 1:34. The
hoops were part of a 16-4 run that transformed the make into a blowout.
All five starters scored during the
run that left UConn with a 53-33 lead with 12:58 left in the game. The
Huskies led by as many as 23
Notre Dane would not get closer than
14.
Hartley Leads
Huskies to 78-57 Win Over Notre Dame
Freshman
nets career-high 29 points
UCONN website
Feb. 19, 2011
Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery | AP Photo
Gallery
STORRS, Conn. - Bria Hartley scored a career-high 29 points as the No.
2 University of Connecticut women's basketball team downed No. 8 Notre
Dame 78-57 on Saturday afternoon in Gampel Pavilion.
With the victory, UConn improves to 26-1 overall this season and a
perfect 13-0 in BIG EAST Conference play. For the Irish, it was just
their second loss in conference action after losing to the Huskies in
South Bend on January 8. Notre Dame falls to 11-2 in the league and
22-5 overall on the year.
Despite starting today's contest with two missed field goal attempts
and three turnovers in the first 2:34 to give Notre Dame a 7-0 lead,
UConn rallied back by putting together a 7-2 run to take its first lead
of the afternoon at 17-16 with 11:43 left in the first half.
UConn extended its run to as much as 16-5 as Hartley netted eight
points, highlighted by two 3-pointers. The freshman finished the first
frame with a team-high 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor.
Maya Moore was held to seven points in the first half as she hit her
first field goal with 5:29 left on the clock in the frame. UConn led by
10 at intermission as the Huskies shot 16-of-30 for 53.3% in the half.
The Huskies out-rebounded the Irish 21-15 in the first 20 minutes of
play.
The Huskies opened the second half with back-to-back three pointers by
Tiffany Hayes and Moore to extend their advantage to 14 at 43-29.
Midway through the second half, UConn put together a 14-2 run to take a
20-point lead as Hartley hit her third three pointer of the contest.
UConn hit its largest lead of the afternoon at the 8:31 mark of the
second half as the Huskies took a 23-point lead on a Hartley three
pointer to make the score 63-40.
Hartley finished the game with a career-high 10 made field goals as she
shot 10-of-16 from the floor in 37 minutes of work. She shot 5-of-9
from behind the arc and hit 4-of-6 from the charity stripe.
Moore's 12 points marked her 139th career game in double figures as she
added seven rebounds and seven assists.
Freshman Stefanie Dolson had a solid outing as well as she scored 15
points while tallying four steals. Hayes was the fourth Husky to
register double figures as she netted 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting from
the floor.
Kelly Faris struggled from the floor in today's contest but grabbed six
rebounds and tallied six steals, a career-high.
UConn shot 54.7% on the afternoon on 29-of-53 shooting, while Notre
Dame shot 36.4% for 20-of-55. The Irish committed 19 turnovers as the
Huskies scored 33 points off those miscues. UConn also recorded 22
assists on 29 made field goals, while Notre Dame recorded just eight.
The win marks UConn's 76th consecutive win at home since the Huskies'
loss to Rutgers in the BIG EAST Tournament Championship final on March
6, 2007 in Hartford.
The Huskies are back in action on Tuesday, February 22 when the team
welcomes Seton Hall for a BIG EAST Conference battle in Hartford. Game
time is set for 7:00 p.m. at the XL Center.
UConn Women Break Out In Second Half,
Defeat No. 8 Notre Dame, 78-57
Bria Hartley Scores Career-High 29
By JOHN ALTAVILLA,
jaltavilla@courant.com
6:44 PM EST, February 19, 2011
STORRS —
The UConn women labor in practice
preparing for problems or contingencies that pop up during the
season. The idea is to
limit surprises, leave nothing to chance, the practice-makes-perfect
mentality to the max.
So you can understand the last thing
the Huskies wanted this season is for the Big East regular season
championship to be decided by a coin flip. There is nothing even this
staff can do to help defend that potentially fateful flight.
So Saturday's already juicy game
against eighth-ranked Notre Dame at Gampel Pavilion had extra pulp.
It's only February, the season has a week to go, but this was as close
to a championship game as the Big East will see until the official one
March 8 at the XL Center. And once again, UConn prevailed. After
falling behind 7-0 in the opening two minutes, the Huskies hugged the
track to a resounding 78-57 victory over the Irish before a sellout of
10,167 at Gampel Pavilion.
The Huskies (26-1, 13-0 Big East),
who have won 14 straight, were paced by freshman guard Bria Hartley,
who scored a career-high 29 points, including five three-pointers. She
also had five assists.
"She's been absolutely awful in
practice," coach Geno Auriemma said. "I did not see this coming at all.
It's a big step for her."
Stefanie Dolson scored 15 points.
Maya Moore had 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. And Tiffany
Hayes had 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
"That's the kind of production we're
going to need if we plan on winning the national championship," Moore
said.
The Huskies are expected to regain
their spot No. 1 ranking on Monday, following top-ranked Baylor's 56-45
loss to unranked Texas Tech in the Big 12 on Saturday, the Bears' first
loss since falling to UConn, 65-64, on Nov. 16. UConn has been No. 2 in
the polls since Jan. 3, after its loss at Stanford. Auriemma was not overly enthused.
"We've been No. 1 so many times,
it's kind of lost its pizzazz," he said.
The Irish (22-5, 11-2) had won nine
straight. They were led by sophomore Skylar Diggins, who scored 17 of
her 22 points in the first half, b