Coming off of an emotional and physical win over the Stanford Cardinal on Monday night, you weren’t sure how the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team was going to respond in their game on Friday night.
Now, folks, there’s a reason why they’ve won seven national titles. Head coach Geno Auriemma knows how to prepare his players for any opponent whether tough or easy.
He really didn’t have too much to worry about on Friday night though as freshman Brianna Banks led a balanced effort from the Huskies with 17 points in their 74-28 win over the Farleigh Dickinson Knights in front of 6,047 at Gampel Pavilion on campus in Storrs, CT in the World Vision Classic.
The No. 2/2 Huskies improve to 4-0 on the young season while FDU falls to 1-4.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was the only other Husky in double figures with 11 points. She just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Tiffany Hayes added nine points and seven rebounds while freshman Kia Stokes had a nice game with nine points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots. Stefanie Dolson chipped in with eight points and six rebounds while Bria Hartley had eight points and five assists.
The only Huskies not to score were Kelly Faris and Laura Englen as all 11 members of the team saw action in the game.
FDU, who were playing without two players due to injuries, were led by Erika Livermore and Stephanie Issacs who both had six points. Livermore led the Knights with nine rebounds.
This one was pretty much over from the opening tip.
The Huskies started out the game on an 9-0 run before FDU got on the board with a free throw. From there, UConn rattled off a 20-0 run before the Knights finally got their first basket of the half from Mariyah Laurey with 6:40 to go in the first half.
UConn would close out the half on a 15-2 run to take a 44-5 lead into the locker room. The five points allowed in the first half is the lowest amount ever scored by an opponent in UConn women’s basketball history. The previous low before that was six by Providence back in 2005.
FDU did play better in the second half but it didn’t really matter as far as this game was concerned.
Both teams will be back in action tomorrow in the next phase of round robin games during the World Vision Classic. The Huskies will take on the Buffalo Bulls at 7:30 p.m. while the Knights will play the Dayton Flyers at 4:30 p.m.
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Notes and musings:
Farleigh Dickinson Knights @ UConn Huskies 11-25-11 World Vision Classic box score
Here are the postgame quotes from UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and FDU head coach Peter Cinella.
This was the 87th straight home win for the Huskies.
They have won 160 consecutive games at home against teams outside of the top 25 and 253 straight against unranked teams at home.
The starters for UConn were Bria Hartley, Caroline Doty, Tiffany Hayes, Kelly Faris and Stefanie Dolson.
The Huskies shot 42.1% (32-76) from the floor while the Knights shot 16.4% (9-55).
UConn had 18 assists on their 32 made baskets.
The Huskies were just 2-of-13 (15.4%) on threes. FDU wasn’t much better as they were 4-of-19 (21.1%).
UConn was uncharacteristically awful from the free throw line as they were just 8-of-19 (42.1%).
The Huskies dominated the glass, outrebounding the Knights 63-39.
UConn had 20 points off of 17 FDU turnovers. The Knights had just one point off of seven UConn turnovers.
The Huskies outscored the Knights 56-4 in the paint and 28-0 on the fast break.
UConn had 17 second chance points to just four for FDU.
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Photo credit: Bettina Hansen – Hartford Courant (No. 5 in gallery)
