The road to San Antonio kicked off for the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team on Sunday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Norfolk, VA.
And they had no problems with the Southern Jaguars as they went on to an easy 95-36 win at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.
It’s the 73rd straight win for the Huskies who improve to 34-0. The Jaguars, out of the SWAC, finish up their season at 23-9.
Tina Charles led the way for the Huskies with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Maya Moore added 21 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals. Tiffany Hayes had 12 points and seven assists while Kalana Greene had 12 points and eight rebounds. Meghan Gardler came off the bench to add 10 points.
Hannah Kador paced the Jaguars with 10 points while Ashley Augerson had seven.
The 12 day lay-off for the Huskies seemed to affect them a little bit as they didn’t take great care of the ball. They committed 12 turnovers in the first half.
Southern got out to a quick 2-0 lead but UConn responded with a 15-2 run. With the Huskies leading 20-6, the Jaguars hit back-to-back three pointers to cut the lead to eight.
But that’s as close as they would get as UConn responded with an 18-4 run and never looked back from there as they took a 52-29 lead at the half.
The Huskies were much more crisp in the second half on both sides of the ball as they held the Jaguars to just ten second half points while they shot 66.7%.
It wasn’t pretty for a bit in the first half due to the layoff but Geno Auriemma’s charges got the message in the second half when they looked like the team we’ve seen all season.
The Huskies now await the winner of the Temple/James Madison game that is currently being played. That game will take place on Tuesday, March 23 at time yet to be determined.
Notes and musings:
UConn Huskies vs Southern Jaguars NCAA Women’s Tournament First Round 3.21.10 box score
The starters for the Huskies were Caroline Doty, Tiffany Hayes, Kalana Greene, Maya Moore and Tina Charles.
The Huskies shot 61.5% (32-of-52) from the floor while the Jaguars shot 23.1% (15-of-65).
UConn had 27 assists on their 32 made baskets.
The Huskies were 9-of-16 (56.3%) from three-point land while Southern was just 5-of-26 (19.2%).
UConn dominated the boards holding a 52-22 advantage.
The Huskies outscored Southern 34-10 in the paint and 12-5 on the fast break.
UConn had 20 points off of 11 Jaguars turnovers. Southern had 11 points off of 21 UConn turnovers.
