Huskies Fight Off Pesky Eagles

Box Score (.pdf)

Box Score (.html)

CHESTNUT HILL, MA (February 8)-- Junior All-American Diana Taurasi (Chino, CA) had 22 points and five rebounds, while freshman Barbara Turner (Cleveland, OH) added 18 points and nine rebounds, as the University of Connecticut defeated Boston College, 83-75, at the Silvio O. Conte Forum in front of a sell-out crowd of 8,606.

With the win, UConn improves to 22-0 overall, and 9-0 in BIG EAST play, while Boston College falls to 15-6 and 7-3 in conference play.

The game was tight for the first three and half minutes, until the 17:35 mark, when the Huskies stepped it up and went on a 16-0 run. Turner added a spark off the bench, coming in and contributing six points of her own. The Eagles soon answered later in the first half and cut the Huskies lead down to 11, as they went on an 8-0  run with just under six minutes left to play. The Huskies led by 12 at the half, 39-27.

The second half saw plenty of action, as both teams played evenly for the first 15 minutes of the half.  The Eagles slowly crept up to the Huskies, and tied the game 61-61, with 5:07 left on the clock. However, the tie was short lived as Taurasi converted on a three point play, and an Ashley Battle (Pittsburgh, PA) steal led to a fast break lay up to put the Huskies up five at the 4:32 mark. Boston College was unable to tie the score again, as Taurasi and Battle took over to finish off the win.

For the Huskies, junior Jessica Moore (Palmer, AK) scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Ashley Battle pitched in 15 points, tying her career-high. The Huskies shot 52 percent from the field, while the Eagles shot 41 percent.

Senior Becky Gottstein led the Eagles with 19 points and eight rebounds before fouling out at the 2:50 mark. The Eagles were also led by sophomores Clare Droesch with 17 points and eight rebounds and Jessalyn Deveny had 12 points along with five boards.

The Huskies will return home on Wednesday, February 12, as they play host to the Syracuse Orangewomen at the Hartford Civic Center. Tip-off time is set for 7:00 pm and will be televised locally by CPTV.