The UConn Huskies women’s basketball team got out of the state of Connecticut just in time to miss the 24 inches or so of snow the state got on Wednesday. And on Wednesday night, there wasn’t much that they missed.
A balanced scoring attack led by Tiffany Hayes and Maya Moore paced the Huskies to an easy 84-52 win over the St. John’s Red Storm in front of 14,440 at the World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden.
The Huskies improve to 15-1 (5-0 Big East) on the season. The Red Storm fall to 12-5 (1-3). It’s the fourth straight loss for the Red Storm.
Hayes had 21 points, including 5-of-8 on three pointers, a game-high eight rebounds and three assists. Moore added 21 points as well plus had six rebounds, eight assists, three steals and two blocked shots. Samarie Walker had one of her finer games in a UConn uniform as she came off the bench to score 15 points and pull down three rebounds.
Kelly Faris rounded out the Huskies in double-digits with 13 points and also had six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Lorin Dixon, making the start in her final visit to New York City, had seven assists to go along with two points.
Connecticut native, Da’Shena Stevens led the Red Storm with 12 points and five rebounds. Nadirah McKenith chipped in with eight points and five assists. Centhya Hart also had eight points and four rebounds in a losing effort.
Things weren’t looking good for the Huskies early on as St. John’s stayed close for the first five and a half minutes. But then the patented Huskies run and tough defense took over.
UConn put the game away with a 19-0 run over the next four minutes and 11 seconds before Eugenia McPherson would score her only basket of the night to temporarily stop the bleeding for the Red Storm. The Huskies would push the lead to 28 points at 48-20 before St. John’s would close out the half on a 5-0 run to make it 48-23.
The run for the Red Storm would continue on to start the second half as they scored the first four points before a Hayes’ three pointer ended that. St. John’s would get no closer than 24 points the rest of the way.
Moore is definitely the best player in the country, there’s no doubt about that. If you watched her on Wednesday night when she didn’t have the ball on offense, she was constantly out there working hard either to get open, battle for the rebound or dishing off to one of teammates for another UConn basket.
They are still a young team but as they continue to play games, they’ll continue to get better. And that can only bode well for them come NCAA Tournament time.
UConn will return home on Saturday afternoon to host the Louisvile Cardinals at the XL Center in Hartford, CT. Game time is scheduled for 12 p.m. and the game will be televised locally in Connecticut on CPTV.
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Notes and musings:
UConn Huskies @ St. John’s Red Storm 1.12.11 box score
The starters for the Huskies were Lorin Dixon, Tiffany Hayes, Kelly Faris, Maya Moore and Stefanie Dolson.
“24” star Kiefer Sutherland was in attendance for the game.
The win for Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma was the 750th of his career. It’s the seventh most all-time and puts him sixth among active coaches.
UConn shot 57.1% (32-56) from the floor while the Red Storm shot 36.7% (18-49).
The Huskies had an astounding 25 assists on their 32 made baskets.
UConn was 9-of-17 (52.9%) from beyond the arc while St. John’s was 3-of-8 (37.5%)
The Huskies were 11-of-13 (84.6%) from the charity stripe. The Red Storm actually shot more free throws then the Huskies as they were 13-of-17 (76.5%).
UConn dominated the glass holding a 44-18 advantage.
The Huskies outscored the Red Storm 44-18 in the paint, 6-0 on the fast break and 19-8 on second chance points.
UConn had 23 points off of 16 St. John’s turnovers. The Red Storm had 17 points off of 17 Huskies turnovers.
