There are going to be times where the No. 1 UConn Huskies women’s basketball team makes an opponent look like a bad high school team. Tonight just happened to be one of those nights as the Holy Cross Crusaders probably wished they had stayed back in Worcester, MA.
Tahirah Williams led six Huskies in double figures with a career-high 17 points in a 96-37 thrashing of the Crusaders in front of 8,312 at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, CT.
Williams also added a career-high of 7 rebounds to lead UConn (6-0). Tina Charles, Renee Montgomery and Maya Moore all had 13 points in limited minutes with Moore leading the team with 5 assists. Caroline Doty’s hot hand continued as she was 3-for-3 from 3-point land to finish with 11 points. She has made 10 straight treys and is just 4 short of the national record of 14 straight made. Kaili McLaren rounded out the Huskies in double digits with 10 points.
Every Husky scored in the game with the exception of senior reserve Cassie Kerns. Even Jacquie Hernandes added a career-high 5 points, all of which came in the first half.
After being shutout in the first half, Briana McFadden had 10 second half points to lead Holy Cross (1-6). Whitney Fremeau added 9 points and 6 rebounds while Alyssa May added 9 points and 7 boards.
It’s hard to stay in a game when you make more free throws than baskets in a half and that’s what happened to the Crusaders in the first half as they were 5-of-6 from the line but shot just 4-of-29 (12.9%) from the floor. Meanwhile, it seemed as though every shot UConn threw up went in as they shot an astounding 71.4% (25-of-35) in the first half to take a 63-14 at halftime.
How bad was it for the Crusaders? Their first basket of the second half came on a Fremeau three-pointer and that ended a 32-0 run by the Huskies. It was just that type of night where the Huskies exploited every weakness their inferior opponent had.
So what did the Huskies accomplish in the game? Actually more than you would think. It gave Geno Auriemma a chance to get his younger players more minutes than usual. It gave both the first team and second team a chance to work on the plays and their defense. This really just shows us how talented UConn is from top to bottom on the roster.
Next up for the Huskies is a 10 day break for final exams. They will return to action on December 14th when they head to Madison Square Garden to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Maggie Dixon Classic. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:30 PM and the game will be broadcast locally on CPTV and also on ESPNU where available.
Notes and Musings:
Holy Cross Crusaders @ UConn Huskies 12.3.08 box score
The starters were Renee Montgomery, Caroline Doty, Kalana Greene, Maya Moore and Tina Charles.
The only starter to play at least 20 minutes was Doty, who was in there for exactly 20 minutes. Montgomery played 15 minutes, Greene 14, Charles 13 and Moore finished with a career-low 12 minutes played.
UConn finished the game shooting 65.5% (38-of-58) while the Crusaders ended up at just 21.2% (13-61).
The 10 straight three pointers by Doty is a UConn school record.
The Huskies had 28 assists on their 38 made baskets tonight.
UConn won the battle of the boards 44-28 and outscored Holy Cross 12-0 on fast breaks.
The Huskies committed just 8 turnovers in the game while forcing 12 by the Crusaders. Doty had a rare turnover, just her third of the young season. UConn scored 23 points on the 12 turnovers by Holy Cross.
UConn’s bench outscored Holy Cross 41-5.
The Huskies scored half of their 96 points (48) in the paint.
UConn shot 12-of-17 (70.6%) from the charity-stripe.
Fernandes hit her first career three-pointer tonight.
Brianna McFadden actually picked up 4 fouls in the first half and went the second half without having one.
The Huskies committed just 6 fouls total in the game (4 in the first half, 2 in the second).
CPTV analyst Meghan Culmo returned back to work just 9 days after the birth of her third child.
UConn has now won 17 straight games in December and now has the nation’s longest home winning streak at 29 games.
This is the 4th straight season UConn has opened up 6-0 and 12th time in the last 13 seasons.
