Huskies Play Host to Pittsburgh

STORRS, CT (February 17) --The second-ranked Connecticut women’s basketball team will play host to Pittsburgh on Tuesday night at the Hartford Civic Center. Game time is set for 7:00 pm and will be televised locally on CPTV.

The Huskies have won their last nine games and hold a record of 20-2 overall and are 10-1 in the BIG EAST. UConn is on top of the BIG EAST standings by two games over West Virginia and Notre Dame in conference action. The Huskies nine-game win streak is tied for its longest of the year. Pittsburgh owns a record of 6-16 overall and is 2-10 in the conference. Pittsburgh is 13th in the conference standings and winless in its last eight contests and since January 14.

Tuesday’s game marks the 39th meeting in the all-time series between Connecticut and Pittsburgh. The Huskies hold the 29-9 advantage in the series that dates back to February 9, 1983. UConn has won 16 straight and 22 of the last 23 games. Pittsburgh has not won in Connecticut since January 18, 1986, a 57-53 Panther triumph. UConn head coach Geno Auriemma holds a 29-4 record against Pittsburgh, while Pittsburgh head coach Agnus Berenato is in her first year at the helm of the Panthers.

UConn has won 106 BIG EAST games at home and heads into Tuesday’s game with an overall record of 40-5 at the Hartford Civic Center. The Huskies have won each of its last six games by 14 points or more and on the season are averaging a margin of 22.7 points per game over their opponents.

Senior All-American Diana Taurasi needs 38 points to reach the 2,000 career-point mark at Connecticut.

Taurasi is currently fifth on the all-time scoring list and is 171 points away from reaching Rebecca Lobo’s career-mark. Junior Jessica Moore notched her 800th career point in UConn’s win over Rutgers on Saturday. Moore reached the 800-point milestone with her first field goal of the game, just 10-seconds into the contest. She is averaging 8.8 points a game and has a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game.

Taurasi continues to lead the Huskies averaging 17.0 points per game. She also has a team-best 38 steals, 20 blocked shots and 95 assists. Also averaging double-figure scoring are sophomores Barbara Turner with 13.5 points and Ann Strother with 12.0 points.

The Panthers are winless in its last four road games and are 3-6 while traveling this season. Pittsburgh is 0-4 against ranked opponents in 2003-04 losing to No. 25 Boston College, No. 23 Virginia Tech, No. 21 Miami and No. 7 Penn State.

Pittsburgh is fourth in the conference in rebounding, pulling down 37.4 boards per game. In four games this season, the Panthers have held their opponents to under 30 boards for the entire game and gave-up a season-low to Providence on January 10.

Senior forward Latoya Kincaid has been the team’s top scorer in 16 of 22 games this season. She leads with 14.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Sophomore Jessica Allen is Pittsburgh’s top threat from behind the 3-point arc. She has a team-high 40 3-pointers (40-of-114), despite missing the past three games with a stress fracture in her foot.

In her first year as head coach at Pittsburgh, Berenato holds an overall coaching record of 289-280. Berenato made several coaching changes when she arrived at Pittsburgh including the hiring of former UConn All-American Shea Ralph as an assistant coach. Ralph was the 2000 Final Four MVP and helped the Huskies win the 2000 National Title.