The Louisville Cardinals tested the UConn women tonight but each time the Cardinals got close, the Huskies had an answer in their 92-71 win in front of a sold-out Freedom Hall in Louisville.
Louisville (11-5, 0-3 Big East) had gotten the lead down to 10 points with about 6 minutes remaining in the game before Ketia Swanier and Renee Montgomery connected on back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Huskies back up by 19 points.
Maya Moore led the Huskies (15-0, 3-0) in scoring with 23 points. She also had 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Tina Charles had her 4th consecutive double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Swanier and Montgomery both added 12 points while Brittany Hunter nearly missed a double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds.
Louisville’s Angel McCoughtry led all scorers with 30 points and added 11 rebounds. Keisha Hines added 13 points while Chauntise Wright chipped in with 12 points and 8 boards.
Montgomery and Moore got into some early foul trouble in the first half and a great half by McCoughtry, who had 18 of her 30 points in the first half, kept the Cardinals close at halftime as they only trailed 41-30 despite shooting 13-of-42 in the first half. Eight of those baskets were by McCoughtry. This was the second-closest halftime score for the Huskies all year.
The Huskies return to action on Tuesday night in Syracuse when the take on the Orange at the Carrier Dome. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 PM and the game will be televised locally on CPTV.
Notes and Musings:
The starters were Renee Montgomery, Mel Thomas, Maya Moore, Brittany Hunter and Tina Charles.
This was the first time in the history of the Louisville’s womens program that a home game had been sold out.
Louisville’s Angel McCoughtry was a teammate of Thomas and Moore Charde Houston on this summers gold medal women’s Pan-Am team.
Louisville scored 44 of their 71 points in the paint while the Huskies had 42 of their 92 in the paint.
UConn came into the game with a +17 rebounding advantage. They outrebounded the Cardinals 52-41 although Louisville held an early advantage.
Moore has scored in double figures in each of her first 15 games for the Huskies and has led the team in scoring seven times. One of those times she and Thomas both had 21 points in the season opener against Stony Brook.
UConn shot 60% (9-15) from the free throw line while the Cardinals were piss-poor shooting only 35% (7-20).
The Huskies were 11-of-26 (42.3%) from 3-point land.
UConn shot 46.8% (36-77) from the floor while the Cardinals shot 41.9% (31-74).
UConn had 25 assists on 36 made baskets.
The Huskies committed 15 turnovers in the game while Louisville had 14.
