During the UConn Huskies women’s basketball 70-game winning streak from 2001-03, the Villanova Wildcats were the 58th victim during that stretch of wins.
On Saturday afternoon in front of 3,723 at the Pavilion in Villanova, PA, the Huskies made the Wildcats their 58th victim of their current winning streak with a convincing 74-35 win.
With their 58th straight win, the No. 1 Huskies improve to 19-0 (6-0 Big East). Harry Peretta’s Wildcats fall to 11-7 (0-5).
Maya Moore led the way for UConn with 24 points in just 23 minutes of action. She also had eight rebounds and four assists. Tina Charles added 14 points and eight rebounds while Kalana Greene had 10 points.
Meghan Gardler made her first career start in what served as her homecoming game and finished with 6 points. Doylestown, PA native Caroline Doty led the Huskies with six assists.
Maria Getty paced the Wildcats with 11 points. Marlbourough, CT native Rachel Roberts added six points in just her second game while Laura Sweeney added six points as well. Kyle Dougherty pulled down five rebounds to lead the Wildcats.
If there was any chance of Villanova ending this winning streak like they did to the UConn’s 70 game winning streak, the Huskies quickly put that notion to bed.
The Wildcats got out to quick 1-0 lead when Getty hit 1-of-2 from the free throw line but it was all Huskies after that. They went on a 18-7 run to open up a ten point lead. Then in typical UConn fashion, they scored the next 21 points to push their lead to 31.
The Huskies took a 45-12 lead into the locker room and never looked back from there as Geno Auriemma had his charges take it easy on his old friend’s team in the second half.
One day someone will give the Huskies a 40 minute battle. My guess is that one day won’t be until sometime during the NCAA Tournament.
The Huskies return to action on Tuesday night when the Rutgers Scarlet Knights come to the XL Center for a Big East matchup. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast somewhat nationally on CBS College Sports.
Notes and musings:
UConn Huskies @ Villanova Wildcats 1.23.10 box score
The starters were Caroline Doty, Meghan Gardler, Kalana Greene, Maya Moore and Tina Charles.
Connecticut governor Jodi M. Rell was in the stands at the Pavilion as was former UConn Huskies men’s basketball player Donyell Marshall.
The Huskies shot 55.4% (31-of-56) from the floor while the Wildcats shot 23.4% (11-of-47).
UConn had 17 assists on their 31 made baskets.
By the way, Maya Moore had 10 field goals (10-of-14).
All eleven Huskies saw action and scored in the game.
UConn dominated the glass holding a 44-21 rebounding advantage.
The Huskies scored 26 points off of 17 Villanova turnovers. Villanova had just nine points of off 13 UConn turnovers.
UConn outscored Villanova 34-6 in the paint.
The rest of the notes are courtesy of the UConn Sports Information Department:
– UConn extended its current winning streak to 58 consecutive games
– the second-longest in NCAA Division I history.
– Connecticut opens the season 19-0 for the third consecutive year and eighth time since 1994-95.
– UConn has won its last 21 “true” road games following today’s win at Villanova.
– UConn leads the all-time series with Villanova 33-17 and has won the last seven meetings in the series.
– UConn has won 138 of its last 146 games against BIG EAST opponents in the regular season.
– UConn has posted a record of 93-9 in its last 102 road games.
– UConn is 15-8 all-time in road games at Villanova.
– Villanova marked win No. 58 during Connecticut current winning streak
– the Wildcats were also victim No. 58 during UConn’s NCAA record 70-game run which spanned from 2001-03.
– UConn is 224-83 all-time during the month of January and have won each of its last 31 games played during the calendar’s first month.
– UConn boasts an all-time mark of 251-11 all-time when playing as the nation’s No. 1 ranked team.
– UConn has won 128 straight games against non-ranked opponents.
– UConn has won 70 straight against BIG EAST opponents other than Rutgers during the regular season.
– UConn is 263-2 vs. non-ranked opponents dating back to Jan. 31, 1999.
– UConn has won 57 straight regular-season games following Saturday’s win at Villanova.
– UConn is 337-8 all-time in games televised on Connecticut Public Television (CPTV).
– Senior Meghan Gardler made the first start of her career in her 112th career game.
– Sophomore Tiffany Hayes saw her streak of consecutive starts snapped at 34 games.
– Kalana Greene scored eight straight points for Connecticut over a stretch of 2:14 in the first half.
– Kalana Greene’s 10 points marked her fifth straight game with double-figure points, her 12th this season and the 60th of her career.
– Villanova’s 12 points in the first half tied for the fewest allowed by Connecticut in any half this season.
– Villanova’s three first-half field goals (3-of-16) marked the fewest allowed by Connecticut in any half since UConn held Cincinnati to a 3-of-28 clip on Jan. 24, 2009.
– UConn held Villanova without a single point for a stretch of 8:59 in the first half.
– Maya Moore’s 24 points marked her 18th game with double-figure points this season and her 92nd in 96 career games.
– Tina Charles’ 14 points marked her 10th consecutive game with double-figure points and her 18th this season.
– Maya Moore’s 24 points marked her 40th career game with 20 or more points in her career and her 11th this season – including each of the last three games overall.
– UConn has held its opponent to a field goal percentage of less than .300 in six of its last eight games overall.
– UConn has shot over .500 from the field in six of its last eight games overall.
– UConn has won each of its 19 games this season by a minimum margin of 12 points.
