UCONN Women Get By West Virgina

In a game they may have been overlooking, the UCONN Lady Huskies struggled to victory over the West Virgina Mountaineers by a final score of 63-44. UCONN had 3 people in double figures led by Charde Houston’s 16 points and 9 rebounds. Kalana Greene added 15 points and 9 rebounds while Tina Charles came off the bench to score 13 points and added 12 rebounds.

The Lady Huskies may have been looking to Saturday’s annual matchup with the Tennessee Volunteers and came out slugglishly in the first half. This has been the norm the past three games. West Virginia came out strong early but struggled later on as the Huskies took control and they never got close again.

Notes and Observations:

• The starting five was Montgomery, Thomas, Greene, McClaren and Houston.
• Tina Charles play off the bench has been superb the past two games. It seems to me that even though this is probably the first time in her life she hasn’t started a game, she is better suited for this at the time. It gives her a chance to read the defense and see the flow of the game.
• Brittany Hunter was dressed but was not available for the game. Her knee is still bothering her. Hopefully she is ready for Saturday’s rumble with Tennessee as she will be needed.
• Mel Thomas had another shadow today and finished with only 5 points while taking only 3 shots. UCONN really needs to get her the ball more and let her shoot because if she’s on, she can single handedly bring down a team.
• UCONN shot 48.3% percent for the game and was held 20 points under their average. This will probably happen again in the Big East as teams look to slow down the play.
• They also were 16 of 21 (76.2%) from the foul line. This is much improved and hopefully this will be the trend down the season.

UCONN moves to 12-0 (2-0 Big East). Next up for the Lady Huskies is a date on Saturday afternoon against Candace Parker and the Tennessee Volunteers. Game time is at 4 pm and the game will be televised nationally on CBS.
Technorati: UCONN Huskies, Geno Auriemma, West Virginia Mountaineers, Tennessee Volunteers