It’s becoming somewhat of a pattern this season for the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team. They don’t play exactly at their best in the first half but then come out of the locker room and look like a totally different team in the second half. And that was the story at Gampel Pavilion on Thursday night.
The UConn women got 31 points from Maya Moore as they rolled to a 79-47 win over the Marquette Golden Eagles in front of 6,989.
It’s the 87th straight win for the Huskies (9-0, 2-0 Big East) and they are now one win away from tying the UCLA men’s record of 88 straight wins. The Golden Eagles fall to 7-2 (0-1).
Besides the 31 points, Moore also had three assists, five blocked shots and three steals. Tiffany Hayes and Bria Hartley each had 16 points while Lorin Dixon had eight points and five assists. Freshman Samarie Walker led the Huskies with 13 rebounds to go along with scoring two points.
Angel Robinson led the way for the Golden Eagles with 15 points before fouling out. Courtney Weibel added nine points and five rebounds. Katherine Plouffe led Marquette in rebounds with seven.
The Huskies got out of the gates quickly as they raced to a 14-3 lead. The lead would get as high as 14 points at 26-12 with 10:01 to go but Marquette responded with a 7-2 run to cut it nine at 28-19. The Golden Eagles cut the UConn’s lead to seven points at 32-25 but a 6-0 run would push it back to 13 points.
A Moore three-pointer with seven seconds left in the first half gave UConn a 14 point lead but Robinson hit a three at the buzzer to make it 41-30 UConn.
The Huskies built their lead up to 15 points at 49-36 and then went on a 21-0 run over the next 7½ minutes to put the game away.
At some point again this season, the Huskies are going to find themselves challenged again and if the post play doesn’t get better, it could spell trouble for them. Stefanie Dolson pulled down no rebounds in the first half and finished with just two on the game. Walker has been a beast down low but she’ll need help especially with Jantel Lavender coming up next game.
The Huskies are now off for final exams and will return to the court at the World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden, on Sunday, December 19 against Lavender’s The Ohio State Buckeyes in the Maggie Dixon Classic. Tip is scheduled for approximately 2:30 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
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Notes and musings:
Marquette Golden Eagles @ UConn Huskies 12.9.10 box score
Here are quotes from UConn head coach Geno Auriemma, Maya Moore, Tiffany Hayes, Bria Hartley and Marquette head coach Terri Mitchell.
The starters for the Huskies were Bria Hartley, Tiffany Hayes, Kelly Faris, Maya Moore and Stefanie Dolson.
It’s the 23rd straight Big East home opening win for the Huskies.
The Huskies shot 54.7% (29-of-53) from the floor while the Golden Eagles shot 26.1% (18-of-69).
UConn had 16 assists on their 29 made baskets.
The Huskies were 7-of-15 (46.7%) from three-point land while the Golden Eagles were 7-of-26 (26.9%).
UConn was 14-of-21(66.7%) from the charity stripe while the Golden Eagles got the line just eight times, making four (50%).
After being outrebounded in the first half, the Huskies held a 42-40 advantage at the end of the game.
UConn had 16 points off of 17 Marquette turnovers. The Golden Eagles had 13 points off of 16 Huskies turnovers.
The rest of the notes are courtesy of the UConn Sports Information Department:
- Maya Moore scored at least 30 points for the eighth time in her career
- Connecticut improves to 25-4 all-time in BIG EAST home openers
- The Huskies improve to 167-54 all-time during the month of December and have now won 92 of their last 95 December games
- UConn improves to a spotless 6-0 all-time against Marquette, including 3-0 at home
- Seniors Maya Moore and Lorin Dixon now sport a 123-2 record in their four years in Storrs, while junior Tiffany Hayes is a perfect 87-0
- Connecticut has now won 144 consecutive games against unranked opponents
- 5-4 Lorin Dixon blocked the 12th shot of her career
- Bria Hartley has started her career by scoring in double-figures in eight of her first nine games
- The Huskies held Marquette without a field goal for a stretch of 8:47, which allowed Connecticut to mount a 21-1 run.
Photo credits: Hartford Courant (No. 7, No. 4)
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