It was a foregone conclusion before the game on Friday night that UConn Huskies women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma would pick up his 700th career win against the Hofstra Pride. The only question that remained unanswered was how many points his Huskies would win by.
The number turned out to be 45 as Maya Moore’s 23 points paced the Huskies to a 91-46 win over the Pride in front of 8,498 at Gampel Pavilion in the WBCA Classic.
The win for the Huskies gives Auriemma 700 career wins against just 122 losses. He is the fastest coach to 700 wins in women’s basketball. He joins women’s basketball active coaches Tennessee’s Pat Summitt, Rutgers’ C. Vivian Stringer, North Carolina’s Sylvia Hatchell, Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, Montana’s Robin Selvig, Georgia’s Andy Landers and Virginia’s Deb Ryan with at least 700 wins in their careers. Ryan just happened to be Auriemma’s mentor.
UConn moves to 4-0 on the season while the Pride fall to 3-1.
The Huskies were playing with just nine players on Friday as guards Lorin Dixon and Jacquie Fernandes were both out. Dixon is still out with a hamstring injury while Fernandes missed the game with an undisclosed illness.
Besides her 23 points, Moore had 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals. Tina Charles had 17 points and 8 rebounds with Kalana Greene adding 14 points. Tiffany Hayes added 10 points while senior Meghan Gardler came off the bench to add 10 as well. Caroline Doty led the Huskies with 9 assists to go along with 9 points. Freshman Kelly Faris led the Huskies with 9 rebounds and also had 4 steals.
Nicole Capurso led the Pride with 9 points. Candice Bellocchio and Jess Fuller had 7 points each while Marie Malone added 6 points.
Leading 8-7 early on, the Huskies went on a 12-0 run and built a 20 point lead at the half behind Moore, who had 18 points in the first half.
They used a 20-5 run to start the second half to make sure the Pride had no chance of ruining Auriemma’s night.
Quick turnaround for the Huskies as they’ll take on the Richmond Spiders on Saturday night. Tip is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast locally on CPTV. Former Husky Kristin Phillips, who came in with this year’s seniors for UConn, will not play for the Spiders due to an injury.
