The last time UConn Huskies senior center Tina Charles was honored before a game, she went and had one her of best games. After being honored along with four other seniors, Charles did it again.
Charles had a season-high 33 points and pulled down 15 rebounds to help lead the No. 1/1 Huskies to an 84-62 victory over the No. 13/11 Georgetown Hoyas in front of 15,733 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT.
The win helped the Huskies (29-0, 15-0 Big East) clinch their fourth straight Big East regular season title. It’s also their 68th straight win and are now just two wins away from tying their own record of 70 wins that the 2001-03 team did. The Hoyas fall to 23-5 (12-3 Big East).
Charles also had three blocked shots while fellow senior Kalana Greene had 13 points, three assists and two steals. Tiffany Hayes added 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots. Maya Moore had 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Meghan Gardler, Kaili McLaren and Jacquie Fernandes also got starts along with Charles and Greene. Out of the five seniors only Fernandes didn’t score as both Gardler and McLaren both had two points.
Ta’Shauna Rodgers and Monica McNutt led a much-improved Hoyas team with 13 points. Latia McGee chipped in with 12 points.
The Hoyas didn’t care that it was senior day for the Huskies as they came ready to play.
They quickly got out to a 9-4 lead and pushed it to six points at 15-9. The six point lead for the Hoyas was the largest against the Huskies this season.
The Huskies got back into the game like they always do with a run. They went on a 16-8 run and took the lead at 25-22 on a Caroline Doty three. An 8-0 run by the Huskies pushed their lead to 12 at 40-28 and they went into the break with 45-35 lead.
The Hoyas got as close as six points early on in the second half but the Huskies used an 8-2 run to push the lead to 12 and they never looked back from there.
Just one game remains in the regular season for the Huskies and it shouldn’t be an easy task as they head to South Bend, IN and the Joyce Center on Monday night for a matchup with the No. 7/8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
Notes and musings:
Georgetown Hoyas @ UConn Huskies 2.27.10 box score
The starters were the five seniors: Jacquie Fernandes, Meghan Gardler, Kalana Greene, Kaili McLaren and Tina Charles.
The Huskies shot 56.9% (33-of-58) from the floor while the Hoyas shot 32.9% (24-of-73).
UConn had 23 assists on their 33 made baskets.
The Huskies were 6-of-19 (31.6%) while the Hoyas were 6-of-30 (20%) from three-point land.
UConn was 12-of-15 (80%) from the free throw line.
The Huskies won the battle of the boards 41-36.
UConn outscored the Hoyas 52-24 in the paint and 15-4 on the fast break.
The Huskies had 16 points off of 11 Hoyas turnovers. The Hoyas had 15 points off of 16 UConn turnovers.
The rest of the notes are courtesy of the UConn Sports Information Department:
– UConn’s 68-game winning streak is the second longest in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history. Connecticut holds the record at 70 (2001-03).
– UConn has won each of its 68 consecutive games by double-digits, an NCAA record. During the span, the team has averaged a margin of victory of 32.8 points.
– The Huskies are now 21-0 against teams ranked in the AP Top-25 during their current winning streak, holding a margin of victory of 25.7 points.
– The Huskies have a 67-game regular-season winning streak that dates back to a 73-71 loss at Rutgers on Feb. 5, 2008.
– UConn extended its home-court winning streak to 56 straight games, the nation’s longest active streak, including 31 straight at the XL Center.
– The Huskies have won all seven games played at the XL Center this season, posting an average margin of victory of 30.4 points
– The Huskies clinched the outright Big East regular season title with today’s victory. The title is the 18th in program history and the fourth straight for the team.
– UConn improves to 29-0 for the second time in as many seasons and the sixth time in the program’s history.
– The Huskies have a 10-0 record against ranked opponents this season, winning each of these games by 23.9 points.
– The Huskies have now won their last 33 Big East Conference home games. The last loss came on Feb. 7, 2006 against Rutgers, 60-56.
– UConn is now 15-0 in conference play for the second straight season and third time in four years.
– UConn improves to 261-11 playing as the nation’s No. 1 ranked team. The last time the Huskies lost as the nation’s No. 1 team came against Stanford on April 6, 2008 in the NCAA Final Four.
– UConn is now 150-53 all-time against AP Top-25 ranked opponents and is 68-36 against those ranked in the top 10.
– The senior class of Tina Charles, Jacquie Fernandes, Meghan Gardler, Kalana Greene, and Kaili McLaren were honored with the presenting of their jerseys prior to the game today.
– This year’s senior class owns a 136-6 record and has won four Big East regular season titles, two Big East tournament titles, two NCAA Final Four berths, and the 2008-09 NCAA National Championship.
– Today’s game marked the first start in 107 career games for senior Jacquie Fernandes.
– Today’s victory marks the 17th straight win on Senior Day for the Huskies, dating back to a 64-62 loss against Georgetown on Feb. 27, 1993. The loss against the Hoyas is also the last time that UConn dropped a game to Georgetown.
– The Huskies own a 21-2 all-time record at home against Georgetown, winning the last 11 straight games.
– The Huskies’ 84-62 victory against Providence marked the 89th straight game that the team has won when scoring at least 80 points. The last time the team lost when scoring 80 came against Tennessee on Jan. 7, 2005 (89-80).
– The Huskies are 98-2 in their last 100 games played.
-UConn is now 300-11 at home since the 1993-94 season.
– UConn is now 200-97 in the month of February and has won its last 22 games played in February.
– The Huskies are now 154-2 in their last 156 Big East home games and have won their last 36 overall in the regular season.
-The Huskies have gone 219 consecutive games without allowing an opponent to shoot over .500 from the field. Boston College was the last opponent to post a shooting percentage more than .500, coming on March 8, 2004.
– Tonight marked the 46th time that Georgetown and UConn have faced each other with the Huskies leading the series, 39-6. The Huskies have won each of the last 23 meetings in the series by an average of 33.5 points.
– The last time these two teams faced each other came on Jan. 31, 2009 at Georgetown. The Huskies won that game, 80-61.
– UConn has won 147 of its last 155 games against conference opponents in the regular season and is 362-84 overall in regular-season Big East games.
– The Huskies are now 344-8 in games aired on CPTV and are 20-0 this season when playing on CPTV.
– Georgetown made each of its first three three-point field goal attempts through the first 4:37 of the game, then went 2-for-15 from behind the arc in the first half.
– Georgetown’s 15-9 lead at 14:01 was UConn’s largest deficit in any game this season (they previously trailed by five at then-No. 12 Florida State on Dec. 28, 2009).
– UConn trailed for 8:27 in the first half (span starting at 19:16 and ending 10:49) – the longest against any Big East opponent this season, and the second longest period of time all season (trailed 16:34 against Stanford on Dec. 23, 2009). – Senior Kalana Greene made the first field goal and the first 3-pointer of the game for the Huskies.
– Seniors Tina Charles and Greene were the only players to score during the first 9:21 in the game for the Huskies, each with nine points, until a layup from junior Lorin Dixon tied the game 20-20.
– UConn went on an 8-2 run during a 1:54 span to go ahead 25-22, prompting Georgetown to take a 30-second timeout.
-Caroline Doty’s three-point shot with 9:39 remaining in the first half gave the Huskies their first lead in a 10:00 span.
– The Huskies’ 11-4 run for 2:28 in the second half opened their lead to 58-43.
– Tina Charles’s 2,166 career points put her third on UConn’s all-time scoring list, passing Rebecca Lobo (sixth with 2,133) and Kara Wolters (fifth with 2,141) and Diana Taurasi (fourth 2, 156 points). She is now just 11 points from second all-time, currently held by Kerry Bascom (2,177).
– Charles’s 33 points were a season-high for the senior. She previously scored 26 points against Providence (Feb. 20, 2010) and against Northeastern (Nov. 14, 2009) this season.
– The 15 rebounds by Charles gives her 1,264 career rebounds, putting her just four from tying Rebecca Lobo for first on the all-time rebounding list at UConn.
– Tina Charles’s 33 points today and Maya Moore’s 38 against Syracuse on Feb. 24 marks the third time in program history that there has been a 30-point performance in back-to-back games. The previous times came Nov. 17, 1998 and Nov. 28, 1998 (Svetlana Abrosimova against UCLA, 39 points, and Shea Ralph against Washington, 30 points, respectively) and Jan. 23, 1980 and Jan. 26, 1980 (Chris Gedney versus Massachusetts, 30 points, and Cathy Bochain versus Northeastern, 31 points, respectively).
– Charles’s double-double today marked the 111th career game and the 27th time this season she has recorded double-digit figures in points. It was also the 29th career game and 11th time this season that Charles has scored at least 20 points in a game.
– Kalana Greene’s 13 points marked the 19th time this season and the 67th career game she posted double-figure points.
– The 10 points by Maya Moore today put her just 20 points (1,970) behind Renee Montgomery for tying seventh all-time on UConn’s scoring list (1,990).
– Moore now has 102 career games, and 28 this season, in which she has scored 10 points or more.
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