Normally when Tina Charles or Maya Moore is struggling, the other one picks the other up. But what happens when both of them struggle?
On Tuesday night in the Big East Championship, UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma found out that answer against the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Kalana Greene and Tiffany Hayes stepped up for the two All-Americans as they both had 15 points to help the Huskies to a 60-32 win for their third straight Big East Championship.
It’s the 16th Big East Women’s Tournament title for the No. 1/1 Huskies who improve to 33-0. The No. 9/8 Mountaineers fall to 28-5.
Greene added 12 rebounds while Hayes had seven. Charles finished with 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting and pulled down 10 rebounds while blocking five shots. Moore ended up with 10 points on 4-of-17 shooting and had seven rebounds.
Liz Repella was the only member of the Mountaineers to hit double-digits with 10 points. Madina Ali led them with six rebounds before fouling out.
With UConn leading 9-6, they went on a 12-2 run to open up a 13 point lead. The Huskies lead grew to 17 points at 30-17 with 2:45 to go but the Mountaineers scored the final three points of the half to go into the locker room trailing 30-20.
West Virginia started the second half on an 8-1 run to cut UConn’s lead to five at 33-28. Then the tides changed as the Mountaineers went ice cold. A 10-2 run by the Huskies made it 43-30 with 11:45 to go and the Huskies never looked back from there.
For the next 11:17 of the game, the Mountaineers were held scoreless while the Huskies would score seventeen straight points to put the game out of reach. Akeema Richards ended that streak with 28 seconds left but it was too late.
72 straight wins for the Huskies and everyone them has been different. The final margin may have been 28 points but for a little while there, it looked as though the Mountaineers could pull off something special. Instead, the Big East Tournament MVP Greene made sure the Huskies would start the NCAA Tournament undefeated.
The Huskies now have to wait until Monday, March 15th to find out their destination in the NCAA Tournament.
Notes and musings:
UConn Huskies vs West Virginia Mountaineers Big East Women’s Tournament Final 3.9.10
The starters were Caroline Doty, Tiffany Hayes, Kalana Greene, Maya Moore and Tina Charles.
Greene was named the Tournament’s Most Outsanding Player. Joining her on the All-Tournament Team were Tina Charles, Maya Moore, Liz Repella from West Virginia and Skylar Diggins from Notre Dame.
The Huskies shot 41.8% (23-of-55) from the floor while the Mountaineers shot 24.1% (14-of-58).
UConn had 12 assists on their 23 made baskets.
The Huskies shot 75% (12-of-16) from the free throw line and were 2-of-9 (22.2%) from three-point land.
UConn dominated the glass holding a 54-26 advantage.
The Huskies had 14 points off of 11 WVU turnovers. The Mountaineers had 14 points on 15 UConn turnovers.
UConn outscored West Virginia 30-10 in the paint.
The rest of the notes are courtesy of the UConn Sports Information Department:
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