Seriously, can we just award the title to the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team now? Is there even anyone who can keep up with the Huskies after the shooting display they put on this afternoon against the Vermont Catamounts?
Tina Charles led four players in double figures with 32 points and added 11 rebounds and 3 blocks to help the No. 1 overall seed Huskies to an easy 104-65 win over the No. 16 seed Catamounts in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Tournament at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, CT.
The Huskies (34-0) advance to the second round where they await the winner of the Florida/Temple game that is currently being played. Vermont, the America East champions, finish their season up at 21-12.
Renee Montgomery added 19 points (all in the first half) and 7 assists while Maya Moore had 13 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and a block. Kalana Greene also chipped in with 13 points for Geno Auriemma’s Huskies. Every UConn player who played scored at least 2 points with the exception of senior reserve Cassie Kerns.
Courtnay Pilypaitis led the seriously overmatched Catamounts with 24 points and 4 rebounds while adding 4 assists. Andrea Cihal was only other Vermont player in double digits with 10 points. May Kotsopoulos led Vermont with 6 assists while adding 8 points.
Vermont really had no chance in this one especially with the Huskies shooting 74.2% (23-of-31) in the first half.
With UConn leading at 5-3, they wasted no time making sure they would be playing in the second round with a 17-4 run to open up a 22-7 lead with 13:34 to go in the half. Over the next minute or so, the Catamounts went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 9 points but the Huskies responded with a 13-0 run to give themselves a 22 points lead at 35-12 with 8:45 to go.
Over the final 8:45 of the half, the Huskies outscored the Catamounts 21-10 including holding them to just 2 points over the final 3:20 in the half.
It was the Charles show to start the second half as she scored the Huskies’ first 10 points and 14 of their first 19 to make sure the Catamounts couldn’t mount a comeback. The UConn lead got as high as 47 points in the second half.
An absolutely incredible shooting display from the Huskies and Charles, who showed no rust from their 12 day layoff after winning the Big East Title. It was especially heartwarming to see Charles play aggressively down low demanding the ball from her teammates.
With the Huskies being able to put the Catamounts away early, Auriemma was able to give his starters some good rest before Tuesday night’s game.
Notes and musings:
Vermont Catamounts vs UConn Huskies NCAA Women’s Tournament Round 1 box score
The starters were Renee Montgomery, Tiffany Hayes, Kalana Greene, Maya Moore and Tina Charles.
This is the fourth time the Huskies have entered the NCAA Tournament undefeated. Two of the three other times they won the title (1995, 2002). The only time they lost was in 1997 when they lost to Tennessee in the regional finals.
This was UConn’s 25th straight tournament game win at Gampel Pavilion and 16th straight time they’ve advanced to the second round.
This was the 6th time the Huskies have scored over 100 points in a tournament game and first since they beat Long Island 102-29 back in the 2001 tournament.
Geno Auriemma picked up his 66th tournament win, passing Dean Smith into third place among men’s and women’s coaches. Only Pat Summitt and Mike Krzyzewski have more.
The Huskies finished the game shooting 63.1% (41-of-65) while Vermont shot 46.4% (26-of-56).
UConn had 27 assists on their 41 made baskets.
The Huskies were 10-of-23 (43.5%) from beyond the 3-point line while Vermont was 7-of-18 (38.9%).
UConn was 12-of-16 (75%) from the free throw line.
The Huskies dominated the glass holding a 37-21 advantage.
UConn committed just 7 turnovers and had 20 points off of 13 Vermont turnovers.
The Huskies outscored the Catamounts 54-22 in the paint and 14-5 on the fastbreak.
