Rutgers Shocks UCONN; Wins Big East Tournament

A 17-4 run by the Rutgers Scarlet Knights propelled them to a 55-47 victory over the UCONN women to give them their first Big East Tournament crown. This marks the fourth straight time that the regular season champ hasn’t won the postseason tournament title. It also ended UCONN’s 15 game winning streak.

Essence Carson led the way for the Scarlet Knights with 15 points. Matee Ajavon had 11 points and Kia Vaughn had 10 points. For UCONN, they were led by Charde Houston, who had 12 points. Renee Montgomery had 11 points while Tina Charles and Mel Thomas both added 8 points.

Notes and Observations:

• The starting five was Montgomery, Thomas, Greene, Charles, and Houston.
• Charles spent the last 10 minutes of the first half with her ass planted on the bench because she got into foul trouble. Of the Huskies who saw significant time in this game, she shot the best making 3 of her 4 shots.
• After scoring 20 points in the semifinals, Greene didn’t have one of her better games. She was 3 of 10 from the floor and finished with 6 points. She did have 10 rebounds.
• Ajavon of Rutgers was a ballhog during the game. She was 4 of 22 from the floor.
• UCONN as a team shot 20 of 58 (34%) from the floor. Rutgers wasn’t much better as they were 20 of 60 (33%).
• UCONN committed 17 turnovers and Rutgers converted those into 23 points.
• UCONN only got to the line 4 times, making all 4 of them. Coach Geno Auriemma had said for them to beat Rutgers, they had to get to the free throw line and not commit turnovers. As evidenced from the stat sheet, this wasn’t the case.
• Greene, Montgomery, and Houston were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Just a really poor effort by the Huskies tonight. They had no offensive flow at all. They didn’t get to the line, they couldn’t hit a shot to save their lives. To me, it is probably a good thing that they lost now because it will make them more focused as they try to reach their goal of winning the NCAA championship.

I don’t expect this loss to hurt the Huskies chances of being a number 1 seed in the NCAA’s. They should still get a #1 seed and will most likely open up the 1st and 2nd round at the Hartford Civic Center.

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