University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn Crushes NWBL All-Stars to Close Exhibition Play
11/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HARTFORD, CT (November 18, 2003) -- Senior guard Diana Taurasi (Chino, CA) scored 20 points and had 10 assists to lead all five starters in double figures as top-ranked Connecticut concluded the exhibition portion of their schedule with a 96-51 victory over the NWBL All-Stars before a sellout crowd of 16,294 at the Hartford Civic Center.
The Huskies used scorching outside shooting and a devastating fast break to bolt out to a 53-24 halftime lead. UConn made eight of 13 three-point attempts in the first half and scored 18 points on the fast break. Senior guard Maria Conlon (Derby, CT) and sophomore guard Ann Strother (Castle Rock, CO) each connected on three three-pointers in the first twenty minutes. Each player had 11 points at intermission.
The Huskies’ offense was so balanced that each starter reached double figures in scoring just 2:45 into the second half on a short jumper by junior center Jessica Moore (Palmer, AK). Head coach Geno Auriemma was able to substitute freely throughout the contest and was able to rest his starters. The Huskies played without injured sophomore forward Wilnett Crockett (Harbor City, CA) and freshmen Liz Sherwood (Castle Rock, CO) and Kiana Robinson (Bronx, NY).
Taurasi narrowly missed a triple-double by hauling in a game-high eight rebounds. Moore finished with 19 points, while Conlon and Strother both finished with 16. Sophomore forward Barbara Turner (Cleveland, OH) chipped in with 11. The Huskies finished the contest shooting 51% (33 of 65), including an impressive 44% (12 of 27) from beyond the arc.
The NWBL All-Stars were paced by former UConn greats Nykesha Sales and Kara Wolters, with 20 and 11 points respectively.
The Huskies will begin defense of their back-to-back national championships on Sunday, November 23, when they will entertain Western Michigan at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs. Tip-off is slated for 2:00 p.m. and the game will be televised locally by CPTV.
POST GAME QUOTES
Geno Auriemma
(on game)
I didn’t know what to expect. I thought it could be really competitive depending on how they were going to play, and what kind of shape they were in. We’re a really good three point shooting team when we’re wide open. I don’t know if we’re a real good three point shooting team when we’re being guarded but I guess we’ll find out Sunday. At least we know when we’re open we can make them.
(on team)
I think we’re a little bit more comfortable, and a little more confident. You know I said Jessica has gotten a lot better, and you can see that. I’ve said Ann’s gotten a lot better and you can see that, and Barbara has improved a lot. All five of our starters are a little bit better then they were last year, and that’s a good sign.
We don’t have to look like the number one team in the country every night. I just want them to get better as the season goes on, just like we did last year.
We rely way too much on Diana. So my job is to make sure that Ann and Barbara, and Jessica and Nicole and Maria and AB (Ashley Battle) feel confident that they can make plays, because there’s going to come a time when Diana just might not be able to do it.
(on Maria Conlon)
I think she was a little bit rusty coming in, because she hadn’t played in all of September. And then she struggled a little bit shooting the ball. Here’s somebody like Maria, and you’re never going to dribble by anybody, and you’re never going to run by anybody, and you’re never going to jump over anybody. The one thing you can have that is yours is if you’re open then you knock down open shots. Well when they don’t go in, it really screws up your head, because you say, “Now what am I going to do?” I think that the fact that she wasn’t shooting the ball well really messed her up. I think she kind of worked her way through that, and she’s back to being old Maria.
(on Diana Taurasi)
When Diana wants to pass, she passes. If she doesn’t want to shoot, she won’t. And then when she wants to shoot every time she touches it, because she thinks she can score, she does. So I just kind of sit there, and take it all in.
You watch her today, and you’d be hard-pressed to find somebody that can make that many three pointers, and get 10 assists, and get eight rebounds. You can find people that do all three of those things, but you’d be hard pressed to get somebody to do all three of those things.
It’s hard to score as many points as she scored in her career and have as many assists as she’s had. And if we didn’t have those other guys: Asjha (Jones), Tamika (Williams), Swin (Cash), and Sue (Bird), she’d probably have been averaging eight or nine rebounds a game.
(on himself)
I think I have to change my approach. I don’t know that I can go to practice every day and expect that the run we’ve had in the last 10 years is going to continue. I don’t know that I can coach at Connecticut 10 more years and have another 339-21 run. I just don’t see that. So I’m not going to go to practice and moan and groan and scream and yell and try and make Barbara Turner into Tamika Williams, or make Maria Conlon into Svetlana Abrosimova or Sue Bird. It’s not going to happen.
Diana Taurasi
On the team’s performance: “Whenever you make your shots as a team, it makes everything a lot easier. The last couple days we’ve been working on zone offense, and luckily they played the zone today. I thought we got the ball in the high post and went side to side, and whenever the ball moves that fast in the zone, you really can’t cover all the spots. We got into good spots though, and got good shots.”
On how the other team played to their expectations: “The score is deceiving. They were definitely tough, with Kara being inside, Nykesha, and Brianna Stepherson [Boston College alum] who we’ve been playing against for the past three years. They were a tough team… they were big and physical, but I think we kind of out-quicked them today.”
On being ready for the opener next weekend: “I think so. For the most part everyone came out of the game with a good mindset, thinking they played well and with a lot of confidence, so if we can carry that through the next couple days of practice, we’ll be all set for Sunday.”
On Maria: “She played awesome today. She made her three’s and she was dishing the ball out. I don’t know what people are thinking saying [Maria’s performance] was a fluke last year. Maria is a good basketball player… she’s not 6-1 or built like [Ashely Battle], but she’s just a good basketball player. Just a really good fundamental basketball player.”
Ann Strother
On asked if there was a lot of improvement since the last exhibition: “In some ways I feel there was, but in some ways maybe not. I think probably in the first one we played a little bit better defense, but we were also working on our zone defense, so we probably worked on some different things than we did for the last one.”
On asked if she’s focusing on her rebounding: “Definitely. I think I’m one of the biggest players out there so I definitely have to get to the offensive and defensive boards. I think our whole team has made a conscious effort to be a better rebounding team this year… last year we were out-rebounded in the championship game, and we’re really making an effort to go to the boards more.”
Jessica Moore
On being prepared for Sunday: “I think after today we have a really good jump start for Sunday… I think everyone is where they want to be, and we still have a lot of learning to do, but going into Sunday we do look pretty good. We have to go back to practice and get ourselves prepared… Western Michigan is supposed to be a pretty good team… they won their conference last year and they have the conference player of the year, so they’re going to come out and play hard, so we have to be prepared to do the same.”
Maria Conlon
On tonight’s performance being a sign of the team being more comfortable with each other: “I definitely think we are… and the stats show that almost every time we scored, someone was making a good pass. Something we aimed to do tonight was to take care of the ball and make sure that every pass was a good pass”
On asked if she and the team are looking to improve: “I definitely think I need to, and I think everyone needs to look to do that this year because every team out there is doing that. If we stay the same, maybe we’ll get beat, but if everyone keeps on getting better, then we’re going to be hard to beat again.”
