The snow was falling tonight in Hartford, CT and so were the baskets for the No. 1 UConn Huskies in the 2nd half as they overcame their first half shooting woes to beat their archrival the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 75-56 in front of 12,910 at the XL Center.
The win for the Huskies improves their record to 22-0 (8-0 Big East) while the Scarlet Knights drop to 12-8 (4-5). It’s the 4th time since the 1994-95 season that the Huskies have opened up a season 22-0 and the first time since 2002-03 season.
Maya Moore’s 11th double-double of the season of 24 points and 10 rebounds led the Huskies. Kalana Greene had her finest game of the season with 17 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals while Renee Montgomery had 15 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocked shots. Tiffany Hayes, who got her first career start in place of Lorin Dixon, continued her stellar play with 13 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks. Tina Charles found herself in the doghouse tonight and finished with just 2 points and 2 rebounds in 14 minutes.
C. Vivian Stringer’s team was led by Epiphanny Prince’s 19 points. Khaddijah Rushdan added 18 points and 9 rebounds while both Kia Vaughn and Brittany Ray had 8 points.
The two teams exchanged baskets early on and with UConn leading 15-11, they went on a 7-0 run to open up an 11 point lead. Then their play turned sloppy and Rutgers got back into the game with an 11-0 run behind Vaughn’s 8 points to tie the game up at 22. Rutgers went cold for the next 3 minutes but UConn was only able to score 4 points. The Huskies eventually took a 34-28 lead at the break.
With Charles pulling a disappearing act in the first half, Geno Auriemma decided to start Meghan Gardler and the move paid off for him as she played some excellent defense on Vaughn and had 2 offensive rebounds and 3 assists on UConn’s 14-4 run to start the second half.
The Scarlet Knights never really got their vaunted “55” pressure defense going at all and when they did it was only effective for a play or two as they tried to come back from the 16 point deficit after the 14-4 run. They would get no closer than 14 points the rest of the way with UConn’s biggest lead coming at 57-37 and 59-39.
The inconsistent play from Charles is something we’ve seen throughout her career and some may question what Geno was doing by benching her without a deep bench. I won’t question it because he knows what’s best for his team. And what was best for his team was starting Gardler in the second half. Like I said above, she didn’t disappoint as she played high-energy Connecticut basketball for the stretch that she was in the game for the second half and helped shut down Vaughn on the defensive end.
Next up for the Huskies is a trip to Milwaukee, WI to take on the Marquette Golden Eagles on Saturday night at 8 PM. The game will be broadcast on CPTV.
Notes and musings:
Rutgers Scarlet Knights @ UConn Huskies 2.3.09 women’s basketball box score
The starters were Renee Montgomery, Tiffany Hayes, Kalana Greene, Maya Moore and Tina Charles.
Tina Charles found herself in the doghouse of Geno Auriemma again tonight as she sat most of the first half and the first 10 minutes of the second half.
After shooting 31.6% (12-for-38) in the first half, the Huskies shot 54.5% (12-of-22) to finish the game shooting 40% (24-of-60). Believe it or not, Rutgers finished with a higher shooting percentage 41.5% (22-of-53).
UConn had 17 assists on their 22 made baskets.
The big difference in the game was at the free throw line where you’ll get no complaints from me about UConn’s shooting. They were 21-of-22 (95.5%) while the Scarlet Knights were 5-of-13 (38.5%).
Rutgers outrebounded the Huskies 38-33.
UConn outscored the Scarlet Knights 32-20 in the paint.
Rutgers had 25 turnovers (11 steals by the Huskies) which UConn turned into 24 points. UConn committed 11 turnovers which Rutgers was only able to convert into 4 points.
Renee Montgomery’s 15 points moved her past Ann Strother (1,699 points) into seventh on UConn’s all-time list. Her current career total is 1,705 points. She also moved into 5th place all-time with 208 career 3-pointers.
Maya Moore’s 24 points moved her past Mel Thomas (1,098 points) and Meghan Pattyson (1,106 points) into 28th on UConn’s all-time list. Her current total is 1,113 points.
Some postgame quotes on the play of Gardler:
Geno Auriemma:
“Meghan did today what she does every day in practice, it’s just that nobody sees it. She does that every single day in practice. I guess when you’re not tall enough, when you’re not quick enough, not fast enough and athletic enough, you have to do all the little things that make you a good player, and Meghan did that. But again, that’s not anything that she doesn’t do every day in practice. The way Meghan plays the game is the way it used to be played in the old days. When you have four scorers out there and you put her out there, she’s a great compliment at times to what everybody else is doing. She made a couple of great passes today. It’s what she does.”
Maya Moore:
“Meghan Gardler is the player of this game. I think when we have confidence and we know she is going to be in there battling, it gives our team confidence on the offensive end. She made some good passes on offense. She passed the ball and took care of it. That’s what she has to do. That’s what she’s good at and hopefully she can continue to bring that for us.”
Meghan Gardler:
What were you hoping to get done when you came in?
“I was trying to get a spark off the bench because the post players were not producing a lot . I knew that I wasn’t going to score but I just wanted to get the offense going and people moving. I had a good perspective of what we had to do from the bench.”
What was your reaction to starting the second half?
“I just tried to keep a cool head and I told myself that I just had to do what I did in the first half.”
How did it feel to have a reaction from the crowd when you came out of the game?
“It is great to have fan support, it gives you a sense that you got done what you needed to do.”
How physical was it?
“It was extremely. I have a couple bumps and bruises. It is just dealing with bigger girls especially when you are small and not as strong so you have to do whatever you can.”
Do you mind a physical game?
“Not at all, that is what I practice for. I battle Kaili McLaren and Tina Charles and they are huge too so every practice I keep that in mind.”
Coach said he wanted someone to step up when Caroline Doty went down, did you take it personally and want to be one of the people to be counted on?
“Definitely, I think last season I could have done more by putting in extra time when Kalana Greene and Mel Thomas went down. So I did take it personal and I have been working on my jump shot. I did not get a chance to shoot tonight but that is fine because I will be prepared when I do.”
Quotes taken from UConnHuskies.com
