Believe me y’all, the final score was not indicative of how close this game was for about 30 minutes. The Pittsburgh Panthers came to play on Saturday night against the No. 2/2 UConn Huskies women’s basketball team and they made the Huskies earn their win.
Maya Moore’s double-double of 28 points and 11 rebounds led the way for the Huskies as they survived a tough test from the Panthers in a 66-46 win in front of 9,767 at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, CT.
Since losing to Stanford on 12/30/10, the Huskies have run off six straight wins to improve to 17-1 (7-0 Big East). The Panthers fall to 9-9 (1-4). It’s also the 26th straight victory for UConn over Pitt.
Moore also had four assists, two steals and two blocked shots and even had some nifty moves when she played center for a few stretches during the game. Bria Hartley chipped in with 13 points, three rebounds, four assists and one steal. Despite first half foul trouble, Stefanie Dolson finished with 12 points and six rebounds.
After her 29 point performance in the win over North Carolina, Tiffany Haye ended up with nine points, eight rebounds, three assists and four steals. Even though she didn’t have her best game, Kelly Faris had four points, five rebounds, three assists and led the Huskies with three blocked shots.
Taniesha Harrison led Pitt with 16 points and had three rebounds. Chelsea Cole chipped in with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds to go along with two steals and four blocked shots. Jania Sims led the Panthers with five assists while scoring six points.
We’re used to seeing UConn put games away coming out of the gates but this simply just wasn’t the case on Saturday night.
Pitt kept it close for the first 3:35 and took a 9-6 lead on a Harrison three-pointer. Then the Huskies did what we’re used to seeing and went on a 16-0 run to open up a 13 point lead at 22-9.
Normally, we’re used to seeing UConn to continue to put away their opponents after a big run but the Panthers weathered the storm and fought back.
With UConn leading 32-19, the Panthers went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to four. A Moore layup would give the Huskies a 34-28 lead at the half.
After what I’m sure was an epic Geno Auriemma halftime rant, the Huskies came out and scored the first four points. But the Panthers weren’t backing down. They continued to fight getting the score down to five points at 42-37 with 17:13 to go in the game. Over the next four minutes, the Huskies would use a 6-0 run to get the lead up to 11 points.
The Panthers would get the lead down to six points at 49-43 but the Huskies would use a 17-3 run over the final 11:39 to put the game away and probably temporarily bring Auriemma’s blood pressure down.
Having last played on Monday, the Huskies definitely looked a little rusty early on. And given everything that happened with Samarie Walker this week, they might not have been focused early as well. But like any Auriemma coached team, they fought through it, made adjustments and were able to pull out the win.
Plus I think it was a good test to see how they’ll do with a shorter bench which means a smaller rotation. I thought they did play a lot better with Moore in the center spot but obviously when you have a talent like Dolson that’s not going to happen for a full game. They’re definitely going to have to work to win their third straight NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship but as long as they have Moore on the floor, anything is possible.
The Huskies will be back in action on Wednesday night when they go to where Auriemma is loved the most (sarcasm), the RAC, to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be televised locally here in Connecticut on CPTV.
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Notes and musings:
Pittsburgh Panthers @ UConn Huskies 1.22.11 box score
Here are quotes from UConn head coach Geno Auriemma, Maya Moore, Stefanie Dolson and Pittsburgh coach Agnus Berenato.
The starters for UConn were Bria Hartley, Tiffany Hayes, Kelly Faris, Maya Moore and Stefanie Dolson.
The last time the Huskies lost to the Panthers since February 24, 1993 when they fell 76-74 in Pittsburgh. They haven’t lost to the Panthers at home since January 18, 1986.
UConn increased its home winning streak to an NCAA Division I women’s basketball record 72 games.
The Huskies have won 57 straight Big East games.
With her 28 points, Maya Moore now needs 151 points to tie former Louisville All-American Angel McCoughtry (2,779) for first place among the Big East’s career scoring leaders.
The Huskies shot 43.1% (25-58) from the floor while the Panthers shot 34.5% (19-55).
UConn had 18 assists on their 25 made baskets.
The Huskies were an abysmal 2-of-13 (15.4%) from three-point land. The Panthers were 5-of-15 (33.3%).
UConn shot 70% (14-20) from the charity stripe. Moore was 10-of-11. Pitt only got to the line four times, converting three of them.
The Huskies dominated the glass holding a 43-29 advantage.
The only bench player to score a point was Pitt’s Asia Logan who made one free throw.
UConn outscored Pitt 32-24 in the paint.
Both teams had eight points on the fast break.
The Huskies held a 13-2 advantage on second-chance points.
UConn had 17 points off of 18 Pitt turnovers. The Panthers had eight points off of 14 Huskies turnovers.
Photo credits: Cloe Poisson – Hartford Courant (No. 8, No. 5)
