Spring Break
Another game, another blowout
Top-ranked Huskies bury No. 23 Pitt early, win by 53
Brittany Perotti
Issue date: 2/16/09 Section: Sports
|
Getting there is not always easy, but for the No. 1 women's basketball team, it was just another day at the court, at it defeated No. 23 Pittsburgh 95-42 Sunday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion.
The 25-0 mark is the fifth time since 1994-95 that the Huskies have accomplished the feat.
And when a team is that good - when no one has really even come too close to beating that team - the only test is against the way the game is supposed to be played, according to coach Geno Auriemma.
To him, the way that the Huskies played on Sunday would have made it difficult for any team to compete.
Why? They executed each play to a 'T,' especially on defense.
Coming into the game, Pittsburgh was one of the premier rebounding teams in the nation and had an average margin of plus-11 against opponents.
On Sunday, the team was out-rebounded by UConn, 55-37. In fact, the Huskies had 37 defensive rebounds alone.
That performance was critical for success.
"There have been times when I remember getting outrebounded and winning by a lot, because we were just that good," Auriemma said. "I don't know that we can win a lot of games if we get outrebounded. We don't have enough scorers to compensate for that."
Instead, the team needed to focus on defense as a team effort on both ends of the court, he said.
The effort made Pittsburgh look overmatched.
"I really felt good going into the game, I'll be honest with you," said Pittsburgh coach Agnes Berenato. "I felt like we had a good game plan and this was a game that we felt that we had nothing to lose. But I did feel like we lost something. I felt like that Connecticut just, they took it to us in the first four minutes of the game. They were up 18 points and I had used two timeouts.
"And that's what a great team does. And tradition and 15 All-Americans will do that for you. And maybe I was delusional thinking that we could compete, but I really did in my heart and soul … we thought that maybe on any given day we could have the upset."
Renee Montgomery, who was named a Husky of Honor prior to Sunday's game, set the rhythm for the rest of the evening with a quick basket in the opening seconds.
Be the first to comment on this story