It’s been a bad couple of days for teams from New England that have faced teams from New Jersey. First it was the New England Patriots losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl and now it’s the UConn women’s team being upset by Rutgers.

After falling behind by 10 points in the early part of the second half, #7 Rutgers used their vaunted “55″ pressure defense to take over the game as they went on to upset the #1 UConn Huskies 73-71 in front of a packed house at the RAC on Tuesday night. The loss ended the Huskies 34-game regular season winning streak and will end their reign as the top team in the land when the polls come out a week from today. And now there are no more undefeated teams in women’s basketball as well with UConn’s loss.

The Huskies had a chance to tie the game up with under 16 seconds left to go but a Ketia Swanier pass went through the hands of Renee Montgomery and RU’s Essence Carson stole the ball and was fouled by Kaili McLaren with 6 seconds to go. Carson missed the first free throw but hit the second to put Rutgers up by 4 points. Swanier drove the length of the court for a layup with .04 seconds to go but it was too late for the Huskies.

UConn (21-1, 8-1 Big East) was led in scoring by Renee Montgomery who had 24 points. Tina Charles had yet another double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. After being held scoreless in the first half due to foul trouble, Maya Moore had 15 points, pulled down 9 rebounds for the game and had a team-high 5 assists. Charde Houston played well in the first half but was virtually invisible in the second and finished with 8 points.

Epiphanny Price (19-3, 9-1) paced Rutgers with a career-high 33 points, 27 of them in the second half. Kia Vaughn had 14 points despite getting into foul trouble. Matee Ajavon had rough night from the floor (3-14) but finished the night with a double-double, 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Rutgers got it’s crowd into the game early as they jumped out to a 4-0 lead. UConn responded back though as they took their first lead at 5-4 on a Brittany Hunter old fashioned 3-point play. Charles gave the Huskies the lead again at 7-6. Rutgers would get within one point but the Huskies increased their lead to 23-14 with under 9 minutes to go in the first half. The Scarlet Knights would only get as close as five points as UConn took a 33-24 lead into the locker room.

The Huskies jumped out to a 40-30 lead and then it seemed as though it became the Prince show for Rutgers. She was everywhere and was on fire in the second half. A 16-4 run by the Scarlet Knights gave them a 2 point lead at 46-44. The two teams would go back and forth with the lead before Moore hit a 3 for UConn tie the game at 61.

With 4:17 left in the game, Carson hit two free throws and Ajavon hit a big 3 to give RU a 5 point lead. Montgomery and Prince exchanged baskets and then Montgomery missed a 3 and the Huskies started to foul. Prince put the Scarlet Knights up by 7 as she hit both free throws. Moore got the Huskies to within three points at 72-69 when she hit back-to-back 3’s.

To me this game was a lot like a heavyweight fight. Both teams threw strong punches at the other and in the end it was the Scarlet Knights that were left standing at the end of the night.

The Huskies will get a chance for revenge against Rutgers on March 3rd when the two teams will close out the Big East regular season at the XL Center. There’s a pretty good chance that game could decide the number 1 seed in the Big East Tournament.

UConn will continue it’s trip through the Garden State on Saturday afternoon when they head to Seton Hall to take on the Pirates at 2 PM. Bob Picozzi and Meghan Culmo will have the call on CPTV. Let’s hope this one is more pleasant for the Huskies.

Notes and musings:

The starters were Lorin Dixon, Renee Montgomery, Maya Moore, Brittany Hunter and Tina Charles.

Honestly, I don’t mind watching the UConn women on CPTV but it was nice to not have to listen them beg for donations since the game was on CSTV tonight.

The Huskies last loss when ranked No. 1 came on Feb. 28, 2004 at Villanova (59-56).

The loss also ended UConn’s 11 game road winning streak in the Big East.

Rutgers has now won 4 of the last 6 matchups with UConn.

UConn had been 19-0 at the half when leading.

UConn shot 44.4% (28-63) while Rutgers shot 44.6% (25-56).

The big difference in the game was from the free throw line. Rutgers got to the line 22 times and made 20 of those (90.9%). UConn was 8-of-9 from the line (88.9%).

Rutgers won the battle of the boards 35-34.

UConn had 34 points in the paint while RU had 28.

UConn committed 14 turnovers while Rutgers had 11.