Renee Montgomery saved her best NCAA Tournament game for her last game at Gampel Pavilion on Tuesday night.
Montgomery scored 25 points to help the slow starting No. 1 seed UConn Huskies to an 87-59 win over the No. 8 seed Florida Gators in front of 8,237.
The Huskies (35-0) now advance to the Sweet 16 in Trenton, NJ where they will take on the Cal Golden Bears on Sunday. The time of the game will be announced in the next day or two. The Gators finish up the season at 24-8.
Montgomery had five 3-pointers and added 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Maya Moore chipped in with a double-double with 22 points and 14 rebounds while Tina Charles continued her great tournament play with a double-double of her own (22 points and 10 rebounds). Lorin Dixon came off the bench to add 5 points and 3 assists.
Marshae Dotson led the Gators with 22 points and 6 rebounds. Lonnika Thompson added 11 points and Steffi Sorenson had 9 points on 3 three-pointers.
The Huskies got started slowly in this one as they missed their first 6 shots but got out to a 5-0 lead by holding the Gators scoreless for the first 4:09 of the game. Florida then cut the lead to 10-7 on an old fashioned 3-point play by Dotson. UConn worked the lead up to 21-12 as Moore got hot for the Huskies.
Despite dominating the boards and having their leading scorer Sha Brooks in foul trouble, the Gators didn’t give in as they cut the UConn lead to 26-20. Montgomery then went on a personal 7-0 run that started a 21-6 run for the Huskies to close out the half with a 47-26 lead.
Any hopes of a Gators comeback were put to bed by Charles who scored 9 of the first 11 points for the Huskies to push the lead to 25. The Huskies kept increasing the lead that swelled to as high as 36 points before finishing up the game with the 28 point margin.
It was a strange game at the beginning for the Huskies who uncharacteristically looked out of sync. But once they found their rhythm, it was all she wrote for the Gators.
Charles continued her stellar play from the first game and was just everywhere for the Huskies tonight. She’s playing like a woman possessed.
Editors note: I do apologize for posting this so late. I locked out myself out of the house tonight and had to wait 1½ hours to get back in, only to find out that the only place I didn’t look outside was where the spare key was.
Notes and musings:
Florida Gators vs UConn Huskies NCAA Women’s Tournament 2nd round box score
The starters were Renee Mongtomery, Tiffany Hayes, Kalana Greene, Maya Moore and Tina Charles.
Renee Montgomery now holds the UConn record for consecutive starts with 136. The previous record was 135 by now Hartford coach Jen Rizzotti.
With 25 minutes played tonight, Montgomery has also played the most minutes in UConn history.
Montgomery’s 25 points was a career-high in a NCAA Tournament game.
UConn has advanced to its 16th straight Sweet 16, the longest active streak in the nation after Tennessee’s loss in the first round.
The Huskies have won 26 consecutive NCAA Tournament games played at Gampel Pavilion.
UConn shot 49.1% (28-of-57) while the Gators shot 31.3% (20-of-64).
The Huskies had 22 assists on their 28 made baskets.
UConn owned the glass tonight holding a 51-28 advantage.
The Huskies were 22-of-29 (75.9%) from the free throw line.
Florida committed 14 turnovers while the Huskies had 17.
UConn outscored Florida 34-25 in the paint and 23-20 off of turnovers.
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