Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Swin Cash made a triumphant return to the UConn campus as they were part of a Team USA squad that beat the UConn women 90-74 in front of 9,057 at Gampel Pavilion. Taurasi had 14 points, Bird chipped in 8 points and Cash added 4 to the cause. Lisa Leslie led Team USA in scoring with 19 points while former Tennessee guard Kara Lawson had 15 and former LSU star Seimone Augustus had 14.
Junior co-captain Renee Montgomery led the way for the Huskies with 17 points while freshman sensation Maya Moore had 14 points. Charde Houston showed off a new look and added 13 points.
UConn started the game by taking a 2-0 lead but a Bird three-pointer gave Team USA a lead. The Huskies eventually went up by six points in the first half but were overtaken by the more experienced Team USA team as they closed the 1st half out on a 9-0 run to take a 45-32 lead into the locker room.
More of the same in the second half as Team USA used their experience to build their lead. UConn got it as close as six points but Team USA just had too much for the Huskies.
UConn will have one more exhibition game, this Tuesday night at 7:00 PM, when they host Southern Connecticut State University at the Hartford Civic Center. The SCSU Owls are ranked 2nd in the Division II preseason poll. Southern Connecticut won the Division II championship last season.
Notes and observations:
Mel Thomas missed 3 straight free throws in the 1st half. She missed 5 all last season.
Charde Houston has an interesting new hairstyle (Under the arrow on the right). →
Maya Moore looked really good tonight for her first time playing in a game at UConn. She did look a little out of her element at times but folks, she’s going to be fun to watch for the next four years. And remember, they say Elena Delle Donne is better.
Tina Charles’ teammate at Christ of King in New York City, Lorin Dixon, didn’t see any action in the game.
Speaking of Charles, Geno Auriemma benched her in the second half because she didn’t play to his expectations:
You can’t be Tina Charles and play like you’re going to be the best player on the floor for the first five minutes then play the whole first half and only get one rebound. You just can’t do that. I would have preferred her to go scoreless and get twelve rebounds. You have to get yourself into the mix.
This was the second straight year UConn has opened up their exhibition season against Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird.
UConn’s consecutive exhibition game winning streak ended at 9 with the loss. They are 18-2 in exhibition games since 1997.
Kaili McLaren lost 30 pounds in the offseason and you could definitely see more muscle on her body.
