For the 17th time, the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team has clinched at least a share of the Big East title with their 74-47 win over the Villanova Wildcats in front of 8,746 at Gampel Pavilion.
It was the final regular season Gampel game for the Huskies, who improve to 28-0 (14-0). Villanova falls to 17-11 (9-5). It was the Huskies 36th straight regular season win and their 37th consecutive home win.
Tina Charles led the way for the Huskies with her 8th double-double of the season and 33rd of her career by scoring 19 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Renee Montgomery added 17 points and Kalana Greene got out of her funk with 15 points and 6 rebounds. Maya Moore lost her streak of 28 straight games in double figures as she only scored 8 points. She did pull down 11 rebounds. Tiffany Hayes added a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with her 6 points.
After being shutout for most of the first half, Laura Kurz finished with 17 points to lead the Wildcats. Maria Getty added 9 points and Lisa Karcic chipped in with 7 points for Harry Perretta’s Wildcats.
The Huskies started quickly as theywent on a 7-0 run before Karcic got the Wildcats on the board with a 3. The Huskies followed that with a 9-0 run to take a 16-3 lead. Holding an 18-9 lead, the Huskies went on a 12-0 run to open up a 21 point lead.
That lead swelled up to as high as 25 points at 39-14 with 1:06 to go in the first half. But Villanova got it back under 20 points as they closed out the half on a 7-0 run to cut UConn’s lead to 39-21.
The Wildcats continued the run in the second half as they scored the first four points of the half. The Huskies followed that up with a 12-4 run to push the lead to 21 points and never looked back from there.
Good solid win for the Huskies tonight. It was nice to see Kalana Greene bounce back from some dismal performances and play a great game. She’s essential to the Huskies as they go in quest of their 6th national title.
Next up is Senior Night for the Huskies on Saturday night at the XL Center against the Seton Hall Pirates at 7:30 PM. CPTV will be broadcasting the game and they will be showing the Senior Night festivities.
Notes and musings:
Villanova Wildcats @ UConn Huskies 2.24.09 women’s basketball box score
The starters were Renee Montgomery, Tiffany Hayes, Kalana Greene, Maya Moore and Tina Charles.
The Huskies shot 42.4% (25-of-59) from the floor while the Wildcats shot 28.1% (16-of-57).
UConn had 11 assists on their 25 made baskets.
Villanova attempted 34 three-pointers making just 7 of them. UConn wasn’t much better as they made 3-of-14.
The Huskies shot 70% (21-of-30) from the free throw line.
UConn dominated the glass holding a 53-31 advantage. They also outscored the Wildcats 34-10 in the paint.
Villanova had 15 turnovers while UConn had 12.
Renee Montgomery’s two steals moved her past Rita Williams (248 steals) into sixth all-time on UConn’s career list. Montgomery’s current total is 249 steals.
