Tina Charles showed UConn Huskies fans why she was inducted into the “Huskies of Honor” before the game on Saturday with her performance against the St. John’s Red Storm.
Charles had 25 points and a career-high 21 rebounds to help the Huskies to 66-52 win over the Red Storm in front of 10,167 in the WBCA Pink Zone game to benefit the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund at Gampel Pavilion.
It’s the 64th straight win for the No. 1/1 Huskies as they improve to 25-0 (12-0 Big East). It’s also the second straight season they’ve started 25-0. The No. 25/24 Red Storm lose just their fifth game as they fall to 20-5 (8-4 Big East).
Charles also had a steal and three blocked shots and played all 40 minutes in her final game at Gampel Pavilion. Maya Moore had double-double of her own with 12 points and 11 rebounds while leading the Huskies with seven assists. Caroline Doty rounded out the Huskies in double figures with 12 points.
The Red Storm were led by the double-double of Nadirah McKenith who had 15 points and 11 rebounds while adding three assists. Joy McCorvey was the only other member of St. John’s in double digits with 10 points.
With all the emotion before the game, the Huskies didn’t come out playing their best basketball.
They stayed close but the Red Storm held a 13-11 at the second media timeout of the first half. UConn responded though as they went on a 9-0 run to take a seven-point lead. They then used a 6-0 run to take a 28-19 lead with 3:14 to go.
St. John’s outscored UConn 7-6 and the Huskies last points came on a Lorin Dixon basket at the buzzer as they held a 34-26 lead at the break.
The Huskies quickly pushed the lead to 16 points as they opened up the second half on a 10-2 run. An 8-2 run in the middle of the half gave the Huskies their largest lead at 19 points (53-34). Charles had six of those points and scored 15 points in the second half.
The Red Storm would get no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
It wasn’t the prettiest of shooting nights for the Huskies but a win is a win. As always, the Huskies will learn from their mistakes and probably take it out on their next opponent.
Speaking of their next opponent, the Huskies will step out of conference on Monday night as they head to Norman, Oklahoma to take on the 12/12 Oklahoma Sooners. The game is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. and will be nationally-televised by ESPN2.
Notes and musings:
St. John’s Red Storm @ UConn Huskies 2.13.10 box score
The starters were Caroline Doty, Tiffany Hayes, Kalana Greene, Maya Moore.
The Huskies wore pink warmups and pink sneakers as the game as a WBCA Pink Zone game to benefit the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. Instead of the red trim, the Huskies uniforms were trimmed in pink.
UConn shot 39.1% (25-of-64) from the floor while the Red Storm shot 28.2% (20-of-72).
The Huskies had 11 assists on their 25 made baskets.
UConn was just 2-of-15 (13.3%) from three-point land .
The Huskies shot 73.9% (14-of-190 from the free throw line.
UConn dominated the glass holding a 57-36 advantage.
Both teams scored 30 points in the paint.
The Huskies saw their 19 turnovers turned into 19 points by the Red Storm. UConn had just seven points off of nine St. John’s turnovers.
St. John’s outscored UConn 8-6 on the fast break.
The rest of the notes are courtesy of the UConn Huskies Sports Information Department:
– Tina Charles became the second player in UConn women’s basketball history to be inducted into the “Huskies of Honor” while still active. Last season, Renee Montgomery became the first UConn player to be inducted while still playing at Connecticut.
– Charles is now the 15th member of the “Huskies of Honor” and the 12th player to be inducted. The criterion to be inducted as a student-athlete is a First Team All-American status.
– UConn’s 64-game winning streak is the second longest in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history. Connecticut holds the record at 70 (2001-03).
– UConn has won each of its 64 consecutive games by double-digits, an NCAA record.
– The Huskies have a 63-game regular-season winning streak that dates back to a 73-71 loss at Rutgers on Feb. 5, 2008. During the span, UConn has averaged a 32.3 margin of victory.
– UConn extended its home-court winning streak to 54 straight games, the nation’s longest active streak, including 38 straight at Gampel Pavilion.
– Tonight’s sellout crowd is the fourth of the season and the 80th at Gampel Pavilion since the 1997-98 season.
– This year’s junior class, consisting of Maya Moore and Lorin Dixon, became the fastest class in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history to reach 100 wins, needing only 102 games to reach the feat. They surpassed the UConn class of Diana Taurasi, Maria Conlon, and Morgan Valley, which took 103 games to reach 100 victories.
– The Huskies’ 66-52 win was the second-smallest margin of victory for the team this season (Dec. 23, 2009 against Stanford in a 80-68 win).
– Tonight’s 66 points by UConn mark a season low for the team, which is third in the nation in points per game (84.2).
– UConn has now won 19 straight against top-25 opponents during its 64-game winning streak and has won by an average of 25.1 points each game.
– The Huskies improve to 25-0 for the second time in as many seasons and the fifth time since the 1994-95 season. The team is also 12-0 in the Big East for the second straight year and the ninth time in program history.
– UConn improves to 257-11 playing as the nation’s No. 1 ranked team. The last time the Huskies lost as the nation’s No. 1 team came against Stanford on April 6, 2008 in the NCAA Final Four.
-UConn is now 298-11 at home since the 1993-94 season. It is 103-02 in its last 105 games played at Gampel Pavilion.
– The Huskies are 98-2 in their last 100 games played.
– UConn is now 149-53 all-time against AP Top-25 ranked opponents and is 68-36 against those ranked in the top 10.
– The Huskies have gone 602 games without losing back-to-back matches.
– UConn is now 196-97 in the month of February and has won its last 18 games played in February.
– The Huskies are now 153-2 in their last 155 Big East home games and have won their last 35 overall in the regular season.
– UConn has given up an average of 45.4 points to its opponents through the first 25 games of the season. It has an average margin of victory of 38.1.
– St. John’s ranked 41st on the nation’s scoring list, averaging 71.5 points per game, but was held to just 52 points against UConn.
– UConn’s defense held St. John’s to its second lowest-point total for the season(The Red Storm lost 50-54 against WVU on Jan. 2, 2010).
– Tonight marked the 52nd time that St. John’s and UConn have faced each other with the Huskies leading the series, 36-16. – The last time these two teams faced each other came on Feb. 11, 2009 in Queens. The Huskies won that game 77-64.
– The Huskies own a 20-6 all-time record at home against St. John’s. The most recent loss came on Jan. 6, 1993 (54-51) at St. John’s.
– UConn has not lost a home game in the series with St. John’s since Jan. 7, 1988 for a 19-game home winning streak against St. John’s.
– UConn has won its last 26 games played against St. John’s by an average of 35.5 points.
– UConn has won 31 straight Big East Conference home games. The Huskies last lost against a conference opponent at home on Feb. 7, 2006 against Rutgers, 60-56.
– UConn has won 144 of its last 152 games against conference opponents in the regular season and is 359-84 overall in regular-season Big East games.
– With the win against St. John’s, the Huskies have now recorded at least 25 wins in a season for the 17th straight season.
– The Huskies are now 341-8 in games aired on CPTV and are 18-0 this season when playing on CPTV.
– Through the first 5:04 minutes of the game, the Huskies were down 5-6 and shot only 10 percent from the floor. Tina Charles was the only UConn player to make a field goal during that time.
– The Huskies scored their other three points in the first 5:04 on free throws from Tiffany Hayes (2) and Caroline Doty (1). The Huskies tied the game at 14:17 in the first half on a free throw by Kalana Greene.
– St. John’s held UConn without a field goal for a 5:47 stretch in the first half until a jumper from Maya Moore put the Huskies up 9-7.
– There were four lead changes in the first 20 minutes of the game.
– UConn trailed for a total of 2:43 in the first half – the second-longest stretch that the Huskies have trailed during a game this season (16:34 against Stanford on Dec. 23, 2009).
– UConn’s 34-26 halftime lead marked only the fourth time this season that the Huskies have not led by at least 10 points at the half (against Stanford on Dec. 23, 2009 when the Huskies trailed 40-38; at Florida State on Dec. 28, 2009 when the Huskies led 41-35; and against West Viriginia on Feb. 2, 2010 when the Huskies led 32-24).
– The Huskies’ first-half 31.6 field goal percentage was their lowest in any half since shooting 28.6 vs. Louisville (March 10, 2009) in the second half and its lowest in a first half since shooting 31.6 percent from the floor against Rutgers (Feb. 3, 2009).
– St. John’s defense held the Huskies to their second-lowest halftime score of the season with 34 points. The Huskies lowest halftime score came against West Virginia on Feb. 2, 2010 (32).
– Tina Charles had 21 rebounds in the game – besting her career high of 19 boards (April 7, 2009 against Louisville in the NCAA title game, Jan. 21, 2008 against North Carolina, and Jan. 13, 2007 against Syracuse).
– Charles’s 21 rebounds in today’s game tie a Big East conference season high, recorded twice before by Pittsburgh’s Chelsea Cole, (against Duquesne on Dec. 29, 2009 and at Marquette on Jan. 2, 2010).
– Tina Charles became the first player since Swin Cash to record at least 20 rebounds in a game (Feb. 20, 2001 vs. West Virginia).
– Charles’s 14 rebounds in the first half matches her season high for a half.
– Charles recorded her 46th career double-double with 25 points and 21 rebounds. She now has eight this season.
– Charles’s 25 points make it the ninth time this season she has registered at least 20 points in a game.
– The Huskies opened up their lead to 22 (57-35) with a 12-5 run spanning 8:21 of the second half.
– UConn’s 19:8 turnover ratio marked only the second time this season that the team has turned over the ball more than their opponent (Nov. 17, 2009 against Texas when the Huskies had a 17:15 turnover ratio).
– Maya Moore’s 12 points marked the 98th game of her career and the 24th time this season that she tallied double-digit points.
– Moore’s double-double is the eighth of the season and the 35th of her career.
– Caroline Doty scored 12 points in the game, marking the 10th time this season she has tallied double-figure points and the 16th time in her career.
– Tina Charles became the first player to recorded 20+ rebounds and 20+ points since Feb. 20, 2001 vs. West Virginia.
