When you play against the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team, you need to give it your all for 40 minutes. Anything less isn’t going to cut it because you know their going to go on one of their patented runs.
Trailing by just seven points at halftime, the Syracuse Orange found that out on Wednesday night.
Behind a 55 point second half and 35 points from senior Tiffany Hayes, the Huskies were able to turn a close game into a 95-54 blowout win over the Orange in front of a women’s basketball record crowd of 4,357 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY.
With the win, UConn improves 18-2 (7-1 Big East). The Orange fall to 13-8 (2-5).
Hayes probably thought the basket was about 10 times bigger than it was as it seemed like everything she threw up at the basket went in. She got her 35 points on 11-of-15 shooting, including 6-of-8 from beyond the arc. She was also a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line and pulled down seven rebounds.
Making her first career start in place of the injured Caroline Doty, freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis responded with a nice game of her own. She had 19 points, a team-high eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. Bria Hartley added 18 points, three rebounds and seven assists.
With Stefanie Dolson battling foul trouble in the first half, Kiah Stokes had another great game as she chipped in with eight points and seven rebounds. For good measure despite only scoring two points, Kelly Faris also pulled down seven boards.
Iasia Hemingway led the Orange with 15 points and five assists while grabbing five rebounds. Carmen Tyson-Thomas was the only other member of Syracuse in double digits with 11 points. Shakeya Leary led the Orange with eight rebounds to go along with her six points.
After Hayes got the Huskies going just 24 seconds into the game with a basket, they went cold. And during that time, the Orange was able to build a little bit of a lead. Early on, it was as high as five at 9-4 before they increased to six at 14-8. Hartley would cut the lead to three before the Orange increased their lead to 18-11.
But as we’ve come to expect, the Huskies bounced back with a 9-0 run to take a two point lead. The two teams would exchange baskets but with the scored tied at 24, UConn used a 6-0 run to open up their lead. They would build that lead to 12 points at 40-28 before the Orange came back with the final five points of the first half.
UConn’s big run didn’t come in the first half though, it came at the start of the second half.
The Huskies opened up the second half with a 22-5 run behind Hayes, Hartley and KML. From there, the lead just continued to grow and grow until the final whistle.
UConn will be back in action on Saturday afternoon as they’ll host the South Florida Bulls at the XL Center in Hartford, CT. Tip is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the game will be televised locally in Connecticut on CPTV.
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Notes and musings:
UConn Huskies @ Syracuse Orange 1.25.12 box score
In case you missed it, here are the new UConn women’s Nike Hyper Elite Platinum uniforms that they’ll wear on February 27th against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
The crowd of 4,357 was the biggest crowd ever to see a women’s basketball at the Carrier Dome. Included in that crowd was UConn committ Breana Stewart who hails from the Syracuse area.
For the first time all season, due to the injury to Caroline Doty, the Huskies had a different starting lineup. The starters were Bria Hartley, Tiffany Hayes, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Kelly Faris and Stefanie Dolson.
UConn shot 51.5% (34-66) from the floor while the Orange shot 30.6% (19-62).
The Huskies had 21 assists on their 34 made baskets.
UConn was shot 48% (12-25) from beyond the arc. Syracuse was just 4-of-14 (28.6%).
The Huskies went 15-of-17 from the charity stripe (88.2%).
UConn won the battle of the boards, outrebounding the Orange 45-34.
The Huskies outscored Syracuse 32-24 in the paint and 21-6 on the fast break.
UConn had 24 points off of 17 Orange turnovers. Syracuse had 10 points off of 13 Huskies turnovers.
Syracuse had 15 second chance points to 14 for the Huskies.
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Photo credit: Lauren Mackson – US Presswire (No. 15 in gallery)
