Maya’s Double-Double Leads UConn Past LSU By 30

For a brief moment on Sunday afternoon, it looked like the LSU Tigers would give the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team a run for their money and their 83-game winning streak.

But as the Huskies are known to do, they tightened up their defense and wore down the Tigers to pull away for an easy 81-51 win in front of 8,120 at Gampel Pavilion to win the World Vision Challenge.

The Huskies move to 6-0 and extend their winning streak to 84 games. LSU falls to 4-4.

Maya Moore once again led the Huskies as she had her 42nd career double-double with 26 points and 12 rebounds. The 12 rebounds now puts her at 1,009 joining Tina Charles, Rebecca Lobo and Jamelle Elliott as the only Huskies to record 1,000 career rebounds. Moore also trails Charles by 22 points for first place on the all-time scoring list.

Tiffany Hayes had a good afternoon as she finished with 20 points, five rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Bria Hartley added 15 points, three rebounds, five assists and three steals. Stefanie Dolson rounded out the Huskies in double-digits with 11 points and pulled down five rebounds and added three assists.

LaSondra Barrett led the Tigers with 12 points and six rebounds. Adrienne Webb added 11 points while Destini Hughes had six points.

LSU opened up the game scoring the first five points as part of a 7-3 run early on. A 7-2 run by the Huskies put them up 10-9 and they never looked back. They extended their lead to 29-15 on the strength of a 12-0 run and held a 46-36 lead at the half.

Head coach Geno Auriemma’s halftime adjustments worked to perfection as the Huskies tightened up their defense and started the second stanza on a 12-2 run. The lead just continued to grow from there as LSU had a tough time cracking the tough UConn defense.

This little three straight games was a good experience for the Huskies as it gets the freshman ready for the Big East tournament. Sure it’s only November but this is the only time the Huskies will play three straight games in three days. There’s still some work to do to get the consistency they need but if the defense continues to play like this, they’re opponents going forward are going have a tough time.

The Huskies are back in action on Thursday night when they’ll open Big East play on Thursday night in Tampa, FL against the South Florida Bulls. Tip is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and will be televised locally here in Connecticut on the television home for UConn’s women basketball, CPTV.

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Notes and musings:

LSU Tigers vs UConn Huskies 11.28.10 World Vision Challenge box score

Here are some quotes from UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma, Maya Moore, Stefanie Dolson, Tiffany Hayes and LSU head coach Van Chancellor.

The starters for the Huskies were Bria Hartley, Tiffany Hayes, Kelly Faris, Maya Moore and Stefanie Dolson.

The Huskies shot 42.4% (28-of-66) from the floor while the Tigers shot 35.8% (19-of-53).

UConn had 19 assists on their 28 made baskets.

The Huskies were 8-of-26 (30.8%) from three-point land while LSU was 8-of-20 (40%).

UConn shot 89.5% (17-of-19) from the free throw line.

The Huskies held 46-28 advantage on the glass, 28-14 in points scored in the paint, 8-3 on the fast break and a 15-2 advantage on second chance points.

UConn had 17 points of 14 LSU turnovers. The Tigers had 10 points off of six Huskies turnovers.

The rest of the notes are courtesy of the UConn Sports Information Department:

• UConn trailed for 4:55 in the first half until a tip-in by Maya Moore put the Huskies ahead for good. UConn has now trailed for a total 132:08 of a possible 3,360 minutes during its current 84-game winning streak.
• Maya Moore’s third rebound (she had 12 total rebounds) of the game at the 12:19 mark of the first half was the 1,000^th of her career. She is the fourth UConn player to accomplish this feat.
• Maya Moore’s three three-point field goals moved her ahead of Renee Montgomery into fourth place all-time with 256. Diana Taurasi is first with 318 made from beyond the arc.
• Maya Moore scored 79 points throughout the three World Vision Classic games (30, 20, 29).-UConn is now 6-1 vs. LSU. Their last defeat to the Tigers came in the 2007 NCAA Regional Final and the Huskies have only lost one game since.
•  UConn has gone 233 consecutive games without allowing an opponent to shoot over .500 from the field.
• UConn has won 32 games in a row in the month of November, dating back to a 71-64 loss to North Carolina on 11/21/04.
• Maya Moore is second on UConn’s all-time scoring list with 2,324 career points, and her 26 vs. LSU leave her only 22 points shy of Tina Charles’ record.
• UConn is now 279-11 (.962) all-time when playing as the No. 1 ranked team in the AP Top 25.

Photo credits: Hartford Courant (7), Hartford Courant (5)