The backcourt duo of Renee Montgomery and Mel Thomas scored over half of UCONN’s points in a 70-49 win over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at the RAC on Monday night. Montgomery had a game-high 21 points while Thomas scored 16 points. Charde Houston rounded out the Huskies in double figures with 11 points. Essence Carson led Rutgers with 17 points while Matee Avajon added 9 points.

The two teams traded baskets in the first half as Rutgers got out to a 21-16 lead with 6:40 left to go in the half. A 15-0 run by UCONN to end the half from the point basically put the game out of reach as they went into the locker room with a 10 point lead.

It took Rutgers 2 and half minutes to score in the second half and at that point the lead was 12 for the Huskies. An 11-1 run by the Huskies got the lead to 20 points and it was smooth sailing from there as UCONN went on to the 21 point victory.

Notes and Observations:

  • The starters were Montgomery, Thomas, Greene, Charles and Houston.
  • The game wasn’t without controversy that took place before the game. Back on February 3rd after beating Marquette, Auriemma always known for saying what’s on his mind, had this to say about the Rutgers fans:

    “They would have to go a long way to be worse than Rutgers,” Auriemma said. “Actually, these kids were fun. Rutgers, they’re just downright obnoxious. At least these kids have something to be proud of. Rutgers fans, they’re just born miserable, and they stay miserable all their life.”

    “New Jersey reporters have a tendency of asking you questions that you just can’t wait to answer in a way that whacks them a little bit,” Auriemma said. “That is why they ask you, that is what they want, and I wasn’t necessarily attacking every Rutgers fan or who plays for Rutgers or coaches at Rutgers, or any of that stuff. I just said that there is 10 percent of that population that are the worst in the country. I shouldn’t say it, and I should kind of keep it to myself.”

    It’s just typical “Geno being Geno” and trying to take the attention away from his players so they can focus on the task-at-hand. There were a lot of shirts in the crowd that said “F**K Geno!” and a lot of them had “Born Miserable”. The R in both words was the Rutgers logo.

  • Thomas, who has not played well against Rutgers in the past, had arguably one of her best games this season. She was 5 of 7 from the floor, including 4 of 5 from 3 point land. She was also an integral part of stopping Kia Vaughn down in the paint.
  • Houston was also 5 of 7 from the floor and pulled down a team high 9 rebounds.
  • Charles got into some foul trouble early on and really wasn’t much of a factor. She ended up fouling out of the game after playing only 18 minutes. She finished with 7 points, 3 rebounds and 4 blocks.
  • It was thought that Brittany Hunter wasn’t going to play tonight so she could rest her knee for the upcoming Big East & NCAA Tournaments but she did get into the game scoring just 2 points in 8 minutes.
  • UCONN shot an outstanding 54% (25 of 46) while holding Rutgers to 29% (15-51).
  • Even though the free throws weren’t needed down the stretch, UCONN showed some improvement at the line shooting 81% on 13 of 16 shooting.

With the victory, UCONN capped off a perfect season in the Big East finishing with a 16-0 record in conference play. They also finished the regular season at 27-2. Next up for the Huskies is a matchup with an unknown opponent in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament on Sunday afternoon at the Hartford Civic Center. Gametime is at 2 PM and it will be televised on ESPNU. No word for those who don’t have ESPNU whether anyone else will be picking up the feed.

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