UConn Huskies senior center Tina Charles now finds herself in some select company of 2,000 point scorers at UConn.
Charles scored 24 points and had nine rebounds to help the No. 1 Huskies to a 98-56 win over the Pittsburgh Panthers in front of 7,121 at the Peterson Events Center in Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon.
Charles needed 17 points to reach 2,000 points in her career at UConn and she got it on a layup with 5:01 remaining in the first half. She joins Nykesha Sales, Kerry Bascom, Rebecca Lobo, Diana Taurasi and Kara Wolters in the select company. Taurasi was the last to hit the 2,000 point milestone back in 2004.
It’s the 60th straight win for the Huskies who improve to 21-0 (8-0 in the Big East) on the season. Pittsburgh, who was ranked for nine straight weeks to start the season, falls to 12-8 (1-6).
Junior All-American Maya Moore added 22 points, seven rebounds and a game-high eight assists. Kalana Greene continued her great play as she chipped in with 16 points while Meghan Gardler came off the bench to add eight points and seven rebounds.
Shayla Scott paced the Panthers with 18 points and seven rebounds. Jania Sims added 11 points while Taneisha Harrison had seven points.
The Huskies opened up the game on a 19-6 run with the bulk of the scoring coming from the big three of Charles, Greene and Moore. The Panthers battled back though as they went on a 7-2 run to cut UConn’s lead to eight at 21-13.
But any hope of the Panthers coming all the way back fell by the wayside as the Huskies put the game away with a 14-2 run to open up a 20 point lead. The Huskies would enjoy a 57-32 lead at the half and with the reserves playing most of the second half, the Huskies would continue to increase their lead.
When UConn’s big three is on, there’s just no stopping them. As I’ve said all along, it’s going to take a perfect game to beat the Huskies.
They could get a challenge on Tuesday night at the XL Center when the No. 16/11 West Virginia Mountaineers come to town. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast locally here in Connecticut on CPTV.
Notes and musings:
UConn Huskies @ Pittsburgh Panthers 1.30.10 box score
The starters were Caroline Doty, Tiffany Hayes, Kalana Greene, Maya Moore and Tina Charles.
The Huskies shot 55.6% (35-of-63) from the floor while the Panthers shot 37.9% (22-of-58).
UConn had 27 assists on their 35 made baskets.
The Huskies were 5-of-13 (38.5%) from three-point land.
UConn was 23-of-28 (82.1%) from the free throw line.
The Huskies won the battle of the boards 43-26 and outscored Pitt 44-26 in the paint.
UConn had 31 points off of 27 Pitt turnovers. Pitt had just seven points off of 12 UConn turnovers.
The rest of the notes are courtesy of the UConn Sports Information Department:
– UConn extends its current winning streak to 60 consecutive games – the second-longest in NCAA Division I history.
– Tina Charles’ field goal at the 5:00 mark in the first half made her the sixth player in UConn history to reach 2,000 points in a career – in her 134th career game.
– UConn has won its last 22 “true” road games following Saturday’s win at Pittsburgh. UConn is 7-0 on the road this season following this afternoon’s win at Pittsburgh.
– UConn leads the all-time series with Pittsburgh 38-9 and have won each of the last 25 meetings in the series.
– UConn has won 140 of its last 148 games in the regular season against BIG EAST opponents.
– UConn has won 31 consecutive games against BIG EAST opponents in the regular season.
– UConn has won each of its last 130 games against unranked opponents.
– UConn is 16-4 against Pittsburgh in away games.
– UConn moves to 94-9 on the road since Feb. 1, 2001 following today’s win at Pittsburgh.
– UConn opens the season 21-0 for the third straight year and the seventh time since 1994-95.
– UConn improves to 226-83 in games played in the month of January and have won each of its last 33 games played during the calendar’s first month.
– UConn is 253-11 when playing as the nation’s No. 1 ranked team.
– UConn has won each of its last 71 BIG EAST regular season games against opponents other than Rutgers.
– Tina Charles 24 points marked her 12th straight game with double-figure points, her 20th this season and the 104th of her career.
– Maya Moore’s 22 points marked her fifth straight game with double-figure points, her 20th this season and her 94th in 98 career games.
– Kalana Greene’s 16 points marked her seventh straight game with double-figure points – which ties the longest such stretch of her career.
– UConn opened the game by shooting 71% from the field in the opening 13 minutes.
– UConn’s 57 points in the first-half marked the second-most it has scored in any half this season.
– Pittsburgh’s 32 points in the first half marked the third-most UConn has allowed in any half this season.
– Tiffany Hayes 10 points marked her 12th game with double-figure points this season and the 29th of her career.
– UConn has won each of its last 83 games in which it has scored 80 points or more.
– UConn has won 18 of its 21 games this season by a margin of 25 points or more.
– UConn’s 98 points marked its highest single-game total since scoring 105 in the season opener against Northeastern on Nov. 14.
