UConn women's basketball

The Huskies did their best to keep the Sun Devils in the game in the first half. They used a 10-0 run early on to take a 14-6 lead. But then came a rash of turnovers.
UConn committed 12 turnovers in the first 15:25. Also, Renee Montgomery spent the final 5:28 of the half on the bench with three fouls.
The Huskies’ lead was twice cut to one, and they led 29-24 with 3:38 left. But Maya Moore scored five points in the span of 46 seconds to set the team single-season scoring record and extend the lead to 10 for the first time in the game.
UConn, who shot 58.3 percent from the field, leads 37-28 at the half. Moore and Tina Charles each have 10 points.
The Huskies have a 24-6 rebounding advantage.
Briann January has seven for Arizona State.

Rich

Their pursuit of history as a team is still in progress. Prior to facing sixth-seeded Arizona State in the NCAA regional final tonight, senior Renee Montgomery and sophomore Maya Moore made history on their own.
Montgomery and Moore were named first-team All-Americans by The Associated Press. It is the first time the Huskies have had two players on the first team since current assistant coach Shea Ralph and Svetlana Abrosimova were honored in 1999-00 and it’s the fourth time overall.
“It just makes me appreciate all the things I’ve done in the past, all the things Coach has pushed me to do,’’ Montgomery said. “Sometimes when I would be so frustrated and thinking I’m making a little bit of progress and then he tells me it’s terrible. He’s just preparing me because he knew my potential. And I think that makes you look back on all the things that you’ve done as far as hard work and sacrifices you made.’’
Montgomery, who was a third-team pick last season, and Moore were joined on the team by Louisville senior Angel McCoughtry, Oklahoma senior Courtney Paris, who is the first four-time selection in the history of the team, and Maryland senior Kristi Toliver.
UConn junior Tina Charles was named to the second team.
Moore, the only unanimous pick on the first team, is the first member of the Huskies to be named to the first team in consecutive seasons since Diana Taurasi in 2002-03 and 2003-04 and she is the fourth two-time selection in team history joining Taurasi, Nykesha Sales and Kara Wolters. Only Moore and Paris have earned first-team honors in the first two years of their career.

The girl’s basketball fans in the state of Indiana know all about UConn-bound guard Kelly Faris. She led Heritage Christian High to four state championships in her career and was the runner-up for the state Player of the Year honors to Notre Dame-bound guard Skylar Diggins.
Tomorrow night, the nation will get a glimpse of Faris’ abilities when she competes for the East team in the McDonald’s All-American game at the Bank United Center in Miami. The game will air live on ESPNU at 5:30 p.m.
“It’s a higher level of game and I’m going up against the best of the best,’’ Faris said. “But that’s what I love doing. I enjoy being challenged. It’s not that fun going out there and killing some team. Hopefully, I’ll have fun and it will be a great experience. Very few people have this opportunity. I’ll give it all I have.’’
Once Faris returns home from Miami she will begin preparing for life as a member of the Huskies. She plans on working on her shot, creating her own shot and maintaining her level of conditioning.
It is also expected that Faris will earn an invitation to the USA Women’s U-19 National Team trials May 14-17 at the U.S. Olympic Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The 2009 FIBA U-19 World Championship for Women in Bangkok, Thailand July 23-Aug. 2.
Faris helped the U.S. win the gold medal at the FIBA Americas U-18 Championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina last July. Depending on what happens with USA Basketball in the coming weeks will determined whether or not she will attend summer school at UConn.
“There’s not been one kid that has come here for that six-week summer session that has ever been prepared for it,’’ UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “You’re going through things unlike anything else you’ve done. I want Kelly to keep finding ways to help teams win, which is what she does well. Every time I think of her I think of how little fanfare she causes on the floor, yet her team always wins. It’s amazing.’’

Rich

UConn and Arizona State have not played since Dec. 21, 2004. But it was that game that proved to be a springboard for the Sun Devils and coach Charli Turner Thorne.
Emily Westerberg had 18 points and Arizona State outscored the Huskies 31-19 in the second half in a 61-50 victory that day before 8,927 at Wells Fargo Arena. UConn shot 30 percent (9-of-30) in the second half and committed 24 turnovers overall.
Ashley Battle had 21 points and seven turnovers for the Huskies. Ann Strother had two points on 1-of-7 shooting.
It’s a victory that Turner Thorne said still remains a topic of conversation to this day.
“It was a huge signature win for our program,’’ Turner Thorne said. “At the time they were a little bit down. It was a tremendous game at home. We had a huge crowd. Actually, I can tell you that because there’s a huge, probably the most prestigious high school tournament in the country is held in late December. And that was going on. A lot of those players from the teams were at that game. I still hear about it. `Oh, I remember when you beat UConn.’ And, obviously, that a tribute to UConn and being the perennial powerhouse that they are. But it helped our program and people are still talking about it. So I don’t think it’s good or bad. Here we are we’re playing them again so it’s another opportunity to maybe solidify who we are as a program.’’
Arizona State is making its second appearance in the Elite Eight in three seasons. It is a combined 128-41 (.757) since the 2004-05 season.
“I’m not surprised at all surprised that they are where they are,’’ UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “If they had any luck this year and didn’t lose their starting point guard (Dymond Simon to a knee injury), we wouldn’t be playing right now. They’d be a higher seeded. Maybe we would be playing them. Maybe they would be the No. 2 seed. But I’m not surprised that people approach (Turner Thorne) every year about leaving Arizona State for other coaching jobs. I just think she’s one of the best that we have out there.’’

Here are a couple of quickies from Turner Thorne during her press conference today.
On defending Maya Moore: “Try to limit her easy looks, her offensive boards, her transition, shots in the paint. Try to contest every shot you can. Make her work for the ball. Maybe get her in a little bit of foul trouble if you’re lucky.’’
On what it will take to beat UConn: “Obviously, probably the No. 1 answer is rebounding. You’ve got to limit them to one shot and not allow them to … We need to control the boards. And, second, would be transition defense. Absolutely, just slow them down and not give them the 3s and the layups. And, again, the offensive rebounding and transition. And then on our end we’ve got to score. They’re a great defensive team. We’ve got to take care of the ball. We’ve got to make great decisions. We’ve got to go hard, screen. So we’ve really got to work hard and work together to score the basketball.’’

Is the pressure on UConn tomorrow night: “I definitely think the pressure’s on them, and it’s huge. It just seems like nothing short of a national championship is going to satisfy them or anybody else in UConn Nation. So we’re good with that. Geno’s a great coach. He’s got that scout team beating the crud out of that team every day. So they probably have lost, but just not in an official game. They probably are working hard and getting better. I think diffusing pressure … Geno and that program know all about that. And I think that’s going to be a challenge for them. I think that they’re used to it. Whether they 36-0 or 34-2, obviously, it their expectation every year to win the national championship. So they’ll be ready to play.’’

Ball State coach Kelly Packard was the recipient of the Maggie Dixon award, which honors the top rookie head coach in the nation. A source with knowledge of the voting said that Tonya Cardoza was second.

With no lunch being served at Sovereign Bank Arena I need to give a shout-out to West Hartford native Amy Shapiro, the cousin of Big East director of communications Rachel Margolis. Amy, who now lives in Lawrenceville, N.J., made a fabulous batch of chocolate cookies that made their way around the media room today. Free food is always a welcome site when it comes to sports writers, and when it tastes good too it’s an absolute blessing. We all thank you.

Rich

Tina Charles had her worst game of the NCAA tournament offensively in the regional semifinals against fourth-seeded California Sunday. She managed just five points on 2-of-5 shooting in 23 minutes after scoring a combined 54 points on 82.1 percent shooting in the first two rounds.
But in looking beyond the final numbers, Charles walked away with her best game from a mental standpoint. And it might have been the best game of her career.
Charles picked up her second foul with 15:17 left in the first half. Coach Geno Auriemma sat her down for the rest of the half with 14:07 left. In the past, this would have ruined her for the rest of the game. But that was hardly the case as Charles responded with a strong second half performance.
“I know the past two years I would’ve tanked it,’’ Charles said. “It would have been really different, but this year is different. I just wanted to be mature. We have underclassmen that are on the bench and I didn’t want to show that when you pick up two fouls it’s the end of the world. And you still pick it up the next half because it’s a whole brand-new half. That’s just what I wanted to do.’’
Charles produced two points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 17 minutes in the second half. And she only picked up one more foul.
She finished with a total of eight rebounds and three blocks in the game. Auriemma made it a point to tell Charles how proud he was of her resiliency.
“I thought Tina made a tremendous jump in the way she played,’’ Auriemma said. “I think she was really disappointed in the first couple of fouls. And she had a different look on her face. Sometimes when that would happened in the past she would sit there like staring into space feeling like `I don’t know what to do.’ This time, there was this look on her face, `I know what to do when I get back in there, and I’m going to do it.’’’

There have been 4,167 tickets sold for tomorrow’s regional final. The capacity of 8,455.

Rich

Tiffany Hayes was playing her own version of follow-the-leader Sunday at Sovereign Bank Arena. After watching fellow freshman Kemba Walker light up Missouri with a career-high tying 23 points (7-of-9 FG), five assists and five rebounds in 25 minutes in UConn’s 82-75 victory over in the West regional final Saturday, Hayes was hoping that she could make that kind of an impact at the expense of California.
And she certainly did. Hayes finished with career-highs of 28 points and seven assists and she added five rebounds and two steals. She was 9-of-10 from the field, 5-of-6 from 3-point range and did not commit a turnover in a career-high 39 minutes.
“I did watch him and I was really proud of the way he played,’’ Hayes said. “I was thinking about him and how he’s a freshman and the way he stepped up and did what he did. So I thought maybe I could come out and do the same thing and luckily I did.’’
Hayes scored more points than any other freshman in team history in an NCAA tournament game. Tuesday she will try to take the Huskies of the Final Four, just like Walker did.

Tina Charles was forced to sit out the final 14:07 of the first half today after picking up two fouls. She responded with two points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 17 minutes in the second half. And she only picked up one more foul. That’s a sign of maturity.

Speaking of Tuesday’s night regional final against surprise sixth-seed Arizona State, there will be a Tennessee flavor to the matchup. Senior center Sybil Dosty was with the Lady Vols when they reached the Final Four in 2005 and the Elite Eight in 2006.
Dosty has also played in two games against the Huskies. She had one rebound and one steal in two minutes in Tennessee’s 68-67 victory over the Huskies Jan. 8 at the then-Hartford Civic Center. And she had six points and four rebounds in five minutes in an 89-80 victory at Thompson-Boling Arena Jan. 7, 2006.

Rich

The Huskies struggled offensively at the outset for the second straight game. They started 9-of-26 from the field. Renee Montgomery was 2-of-8. Maya Moore was 1-of-4. And Tina Charles was 1-of-3 before spending the final 14:07 of the half on the bench with two fouls.
Defensively, Ashley Walker was having her way with the Huskies. She had 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting, and her 3-pointer with 6:38 left in the half gave California a 31-23 lead. Had it not been for Tiffany Hayes (11 points) the deficit certainly would have been greater.
The Bears opened 11-of-19 from the field.
UConn had trailed for a combined 45:16 through the first 35 games. And it had never been by more than six points (8-2 vs. Notre Dame).
But following a 30-second timeout by Geno Auriemma, the Huskies would rediscover some normalcy. They scored the next 12 points, including five each by Hayes and Moore, to take the lead.
UConn also was getting done defensively. It held California scoreless for 6:35, forced a pair of shot clock violations and Moore drew a charge on Walker. The Bears also missed their final eight shots and committed five turnovers.
The Huskies led 35-33 at halftime. Hayes has 16 points (6-of-7 FG), three rebounds, three assists and two steals in 20 minutes.

Rich

Huskies freshman Tiffany Hayes thought the worst when she banged knees with a Florida player in a pile up diving for a loose ball in the first half Tuesday. She struggled to get to her feet and needed to be helped off the court by team trainer Rosemary Ragle.
Hayes has been instrumental in helping her roommate Caroline Doty cope with a season-ending knee injury this season. Naturally, she initially thought something was significantly wrong with her right knee.
“I think that was probably mostly what it was is I was scared when I went down,’’ Hayes said. “So I was kind of panicking a little bit. It was just a scare for me that it was hurting like that and it was like I just had to walk it off and it was fine.’’
It turns out that’s all it was a scare. Hayes left the game with 9:46 left in the first half. She was tended to on the bench by Ragle and returned two minutes, 23 seconds later.
Hayes said she has been icing her knee and receiving electric stimulation treatments daily this week to ensure that there will be no further difficulties when top-seeded UConn faces fourth-seeded California in the Trenton regional semifinals today at Sovereign Bank Arena.
“It’s getting better and better every day,’’ Hayes said.

Rich