UCONN Women Hold Off Marquette To Win

In the UCONN Women’s closest win of the season, Tina Charles led the Huskies past the Golden Eagles of Marquette by the final score of 52-48. Charles had her 7th double-double of the season with a career high 20 points and 14 rebounds. Renee Montgomery was the only other Husky in double figures with 12 points. Marquette was led by Christina Quaye’s 20 points and Krystal Ellis’ 10 points.

UCONN got down early but a Mel Thomas 3 pointer tied the game at 11 all. A 20-9 UCONN run ended the half and provided the 31-20 halftime score.

UCONN weathered some runs by Marquette in the second half as they got the lead down to 3 points towards the end of the game but two Montgomery free throws sealed the deal for the Huskies.

Notes and Observations:

• The starters were Montgomery, Thomas, Greene, Charles and McLaren.
• Charde Houston didn’t start for the first time all year as she was in Coach Geno Auriemma’s doghouse. However, in her 15 minutes of play, even though she only scored 4 points, she had 2 blocks and 3 steals on the defensive end. You could see it in her eyes that she was once again playing with that same fire that she had all season.
• Charles was just a monster all over the court. Marquette didn’t have an answer for her. At one point, it looked like her shoulder was giving her trouble again when she was fouled. This is going to be the case all year with her shoulder.
• Charles’ double-double was the 7th of her career and ties former UCONN great, Tamika Williams, for double-doubles as a freshman.
• Brittany Hunter returned to action for the Huskies, playing 8 minutes.
• Odd stat of the game. Montgomery was the only Husky to get to the free throw line. She was 4 of 6.
• Kalil McLaren only played 4 minutes after starting the game. Either she got into Auriemma’s doghouse too, or her troublesome foot was giving her problems.
• Even with Charles’ 14 rebounds, the Huskies were outrebounded by a final margin of 44-34.

Another good road win for the Huskies. They didn’t fold under the pressure at the end of the game and held on for their 20th victory of the season. The Huskies are now 20-2 (10-0 in the Big East). Next up for the Huskies is a date against Big East rival Rutgers on Tuesday, Feb. 6th. Game time is 8:00 PM at Gampel Pavilion. The game will be broadcast nationally on CSTV and locally here in Connecticut on CPTV.

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