Spring Break
UConn Women Earn Top Seed
Women's Basketball
Tim Ehrens
Issue date: 3/18/08 Section: Sports
A potential rubber match with Rutgers in the Elite Eight is far down the road for this team, and they know it as they prepare for Ivy League champion Cornell on Sunday.
Despite losing their last two games of the regular season, the Big Red won a share of the Ivy League title - along with Dartmouth and Harvard - when it defeated Princeton on March 8. A coin flip determined that the Big Red would play the winner of a Dartmouth-Harvard game. They won the automatic bid eight days later when they beat Dartmouth, 64-47, in a one-game playoff to grab their first-ever NCAA Tournament bid.
Needless to say, the two teams are strangers to each other as they have never played one another on the court. UConn does have some experience against the Ivy League in its history, going 18-9 against teams in that conference.
"I don't know much about them so I'm sure the coaching staff is going to get us prepared for the game," Montgomery said. "They always do so. By the time it's time to play them, I'll know a lot."
Cornell is led by Ivy League Player of the Year Jeomi Maduka - the first-ever Big Red player to earn the honor - who averages 14.3 points per game. While Maduka got most of the accolades - being the only unanimous selection on her third All-Ivy first-team - the Big Red also boast two All-Ivy Honorable Mentions in Lauren Benson and Moina Snyder.
"At this time of year you don't know anything about anybody because you never get a chance to see some of the teams you're going to be playing in some of the early rounds," Auriemma said. "You just go out and play. It's the same thing every year, just go play."
For many players, including seniors like Swanier, playing in Bridgeport again for the first and second rounds is a blessing since they will be playing in front of their home-state fans.
"I'm excited because we have great fans and anywhere we play they are there," Swanier said. "To actually play in Connecticut that makes it a big game, and for the seniors it is the last time we will get to play in Connecticut."
Despite losing their last two games of the regular season, the Big Red won a share of the Ivy League title - along with Dartmouth and Harvard - when it defeated Princeton on March 8. A coin flip determined that the Big Red would play the winner of a Dartmouth-Harvard game. They won the automatic bid eight days later when they beat Dartmouth, 64-47, in a one-game playoff to grab their first-ever NCAA Tournament bid.
Needless to say, the two teams are strangers to each other as they have never played one another on the court. UConn does have some experience against the Ivy League in its history, going 18-9 against teams in that conference.
"I don't know much about them so I'm sure the coaching staff is going to get us prepared for the game," Montgomery said. "They always do so. By the time it's time to play them, I'll know a lot."
Cornell is led by Ivy League Player of the Year Jeomi Maduka - the first-ever Big Red player to earn the honor - who averages 14.3 points per game. While Maduka got most of the accolades - being the only unanimous selection on her third All-Ivy first-team - the Big Red also boast two All-Ivy Honorable Mentions in Lauren Benson and Moina Snyder.
"At this time of year you don't know anything about anybody because you never get a chance to see some of the teams you're going to be playing in some of the early rounds," Auriemma said. "You just go out and play. It's the same thing every year, just go play."
For many players, including seniors like Swanier, playing in Bridgeport again for the first and second rounds is a blessing since they will be playing in front of their home-state fans.
"I'm excited because we have great fans and anywhere we play they are there," Swanier said. "To actually play in Connecticut that makes it a big game, and for the seniors it is the last time we will get to play in Connecticut."
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