The last time the UConn Huskies women's basketball team played on the Maples Pavilion court, they saw their 90-game winning streak stopped by the Stanford Cardinal.
This time around, it was the Cardinal who were carrying an 82-game home winning streak. And when all was said and done, the Stanford home winning streak was stopped at 82 games.
Behind a staunch defense, the No. 2 Huskies beat the No. 1 Cardinal 61-35 in front of 7,326 at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, CA.
UConn improves to 11-0 and should be the No. 1 team when the rankings come out on Monday (AP) and Tuesday (USA Today Coaches). The Cardinal suffer their first loss of the season as they fall to 11-1.
The Huskies were led by Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis who had 19 points and pulled down six boards. Stefanie Dolson was outstanding on both ends of the floor, especially on the defensive end against Chiney Ogwumike. Dolson finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
Bria Hartley and Kelly Faris both had 10 points while Breanna Stewart had nine points off the bench.
Ogwumike led the Cardinal with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Bonnie Samuelson added eight points and Toni Kokenis had six points.
UConn's defensive pressure kept Stanford from getting into any sort of offense as most of the time they had about 10-15 seconds to run their offense. The defensive pressure also forced the Cardinals into some poor shots as Ogwumike and the rest of her team struggled from the floor.
As a late December game, this was a good measuring point as to where Geno Auriemma's team stands. He's still got a tough road ahead of him with matchups against Notre Dame and Baylor looming in the distance.
But for now, without seeing Baylor play mind you, the UConn women are definitely the best team in the country. And not a bad performance by the team after going home for a few days for Christmas break.
The Huskies are back in action on New Year's Eve afternoon when they'll take on the Oregon Ducks at in Eugene, OR at 3 p.m.
UConn Huskies at Stanford Cardinal 12.29.12 box score
Postgame quotes will be added here once they become available.
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photo credit: brad horrigan – hartford courant (no. 12 in gallery)
