Spring Break
A super Sweet 16th
Huskies advance to 16th straight Sweet 16 with blowout over Gators
Mike Northup
Issue date: 3/25/09 Section: Sports
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Montgomery added five assists and four rebounds on the night and received a loud standing ovation from the 8,237 in attendance when she came out of the game for the final time with 6:24 to go in the second half.
"It's good to play here, and any extra games that I got, to play in front of our fans, was just a treat because they get excited about everything," Montgomery said. "It's just they make you feel special."
With the win, UConn (35-0) advances to the Sweet 16 for the 16th year in a row, where they will face No. 4 seed California Sunday at noon at Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, N.J.
Florida's intense physical play worked against the team as the Gators racked up 16 fouls in the first half and nine in the second half, forcing the team to sub early and often and allowing UConn to take 29 foul shots all game, of which the Huskies made 22.
"I'm surprised at how many fouls they called, actually," Montgomery said. "Usually, teams are always physical with us and we just have to kind fight through it, but today the refs were calling it tight."
The Gators (24-8) were forced to play much of the first half without their leading scorer, point guard Sha Brooks, who was limited to just four minutes and zero points in the first half because of foul trouble.
"I couldn't believe that I just got two fouls that to me were not really fouls, but I have no control over that," Brooks said.
Just a minute-and-a-half into the game, Brooks was called for her second charging foul, sending her to the bench. Brooks had trouble finding a rhythm in the second half, and finished with just 8 points on 3-of-10 shooting before fouling out with 32 seconds left in the game.
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