Women’s Basketball Wins Second Straight at
Paradise Jam 86-43 Over Old Dominion
Huskies to battle No. 9/8 Duke on Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. (ET) in tournament finale

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ST. THOMAS, U.S.V.I. (November 23, 2007) – The No. 2/2 University of Connecticut women’s basketball team had four players register double-figure points and shot .649 (37-of-57) from the field, as it cruised to an 86-43 win over Old Dominion in its second game at the Paradise Jam Tournament in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., on Friday night.

The win ups the Huskies’ record to 4-0 and moves them to 2-0 at the Paradise Jam, which they will close out on Sunday night when they meet No. 9/8 Duke in an 8:30 p.m. (ET) tip that will be televised on CPTV. Old Dominion falls to 3-1 following the 43-point loss, which matched its point total for the game.

The win extended the Huskies winning streak in regular season games to 17 straight.

Sophomore Tina Charles (Jamaica, N.Y.) led the way for the Huskies with a game-high 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting to go along with a team-best seven rebounds. Junior Renee Montgomery (St. Albans, W. Va.) added 12 points while junior Kalana Greene (Saint Stephens, S.C.) and freshman Maya Moore (Lawrenceville, Ga.) each finished with 10.

Senior Brittany Hunter (Columbus, Ohio), making her second start of the season and the fourth of her UConn career, responded with eight points and seven rebounds over 10 minutes of action.

The first 12 minutes of the game saw neither team lead by more than two points before a pair of steals and a jumper by Moore helped the Huskies open an eight-point lead at 22-14. Old Dominion scored five consecutive points to cut the margin back to three at 22-19 behind a three-point play by T.J. Jordan and a bucket by Shadasia Green.

Connecticut answered by closing out the first half with a 15-1 run to head into halftime with a 17-point lead at 37-20. The Huskies held the Monarchs without a field goal for the final 6:13 of the first half.

Charles led the Huskies in the first half with a team-high 11 points to go along with eight rebounds. Moore added six points off the bench in 10 minutes of action, while shooting 3-of-3 from the field.

UConn shot a solid .571 (16-of-28) clip from the field in the opening 20 minutes, while limiting Old Dominion to a .250 (8-of-32) field goal percentage in the first stanza.

Senior guard Mel Thomas (Cincinnati, Ohio) connected on a pair of treys in the first half to give her 200 for her career, becoming the sixth player in UConn history to reach the mark.

Montgomery upped the margin to 20 points at 44-24 with a trey just 1:59 into the second half. The Huskies went on to out-score the Monarchs 31-16 over the opening 11 minutes of the second half to make the score 68-36.

The Huskies shot a blistering 21-of-29 (.724) in the second half and forced the Monarchs into a 10-for-30 (.333) shooting effort over the final 20 minutes.

UConn's second half shooting percentage marked its highest output in a half since it shot .750 (21-of-28) from the field in the first half during its last meeting with Old Dominion on March 23, 2002 in the NCAA Mideast Regional Final.

UConn scored 23 points off 20 Old Dominion turnovers while the Monarchs were only able to post three points off 16 UConn miscues.

Game Notes

- UConn has won 17 consecutive regular season games following tonight’s win over Old Dominion.

- UConn will face No. 9/8 Duke on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. (ET) in its final game at the Paradise Jam.

- UConn's second half shooting percentage marked its highest output in a half since it shot .750 (21-of-28) from the field in the first half during its last meeting with Old Dominion on March 23, 2002 in the NCAA Mideast Regional Final.

- UConn moves to 6-1 all-time in the series vs. Old Dominion following tonight’s win and has won its last five meeting with the Monarchs.

- UConn improves to 11-1 all-time against Colonial Athletic Association opponents following tonight’s win over Old Dominion.

- Tonight marked the 999th game in the history of the UConn women’s basketball program.

- UConn extended its winning streak in the month of November to 13 consecutive games and improved its all-time record in the month to 78-14.

- UConn moves to 4-0 for the third consecutive season and the 11th time in the last 12 years.

- Old Dominion represented the second of three games over a four-day span at the Paradise Jam Tournament in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.

- UConn improves to 200-3 vs. unranked opponents dating back to Jan. 31, 1999, following tonight’s win over Old Dominion.

- Mel Thomas made the 200th 3-point field goal of her career (sixth player to reach 200 treys in UConn history) in tonight’s win over Old Dominion.

- UConn improves to 282-8 all-time in game televised on Connecticut Public Television (CPTV).