University of Connecticut Athletics
No. 15/14 UConn Tramples Providence, 83-33
1/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
STORRS, Conn. (January 4, 2005) – Junior Rashidat Sadiq (Lagos, Nigeria) and freshman Ketia Swanier (Columbus, Ga.) both recorded career highs to lead three Huskies in double figures as the No. 15/14 University of Connecticut women’s basketball team improved to 8-3 (2-0 BIG EAST) with a 83-33 win over Providence (1-12, 0-2 BIG EAST) at Gampel Pavilion on Tuesday night in front of a sellout crowd of 10,167.
Sadiq led the Huskies with 16 points and Charde Houston (San Diego, Calif.) added 14 and Swanier chipped in with 10 for UConn as the Huskies improved their home-court winning streak vs. BIG EAST teams to 110 games. The win marked UConn’s 54th consecutive win at the facility.
A 22-4 run to open the first half would see the Huskies jump ahead early as a deep UConn bench produced the program’s seventh different starting lineup in 11 games this season. A 12-7 run towards the end of the first tier that slightly narrowed the gap to 39-18 with 34 seconds remaining would be the only offensive spurt the Friars would see in the first 20 minutes of action as the Huskies connected on 56 percent (17-30) from the field in the opening half.
A 13-5 run to open the second half saw UConn hold Providence without a field goal and widen the margin to 54-23 until a layup by sophomore Shauna Snyder - with 12:20 remaining - gave the Friars their first and only bucket from the field until the final nine minutes of action.
Snyder’s 13 points would lead Providence, who became UConn’s next defensive target as the Huskies have held the opponents to a historic-low 47.8 points per-game this season.
Senior Jessica Moore (Palmer, Alaska) provided a spark to the Huskies strong all-around game, adding six points and seven rebounds in just 14 minutes of play to UConn’s season low five turnovers and season-high 10 blocks. The Huskies played without junior Barbara Turner (Cleveland, Ohio), who sat out the game with a sore foot.
UConn returns to action on Saturday as they play host No. 8/10 Tennessee at 2:00 p.m. at the Hartford Civic Center. The game will be televised on CBS and will mark the first time the two teams have met since last year’s National Championship game.
GAME NOTES
- UConn opened with its seventh different starting lineup this season.
- Tonight's game marked the 85th straight sellout at Gampel Pavilion.
- Junior Barbara Turner did not dress for the first time in her career due to injury - a span of 83 games.
- UConn extends its winning streak at Gampel Pavilion to 54 games.
- The Huskies are 205-15 all-time at Gampel Pavilion.
- UConn won its 19th straight game vs. Providence and increased its lead in the all-time series to 31-21.
- Tonight's win vs. Providence increased UConn's home-court winning streak vs. BIG EAST opponents to 110 games.
- Tonight's game marked the 900th game in UConn Women's basketball history.
- UConn improves to 19-4 all-time in BIG EAST home openers.
- UConn improves to 202-6 at home since 1993-94.
- The Huskies have won 136 of their last 139 games vs. unranked opponents.
- Providence's 33 points marked the seventh time this season that UConn has held its opponent under 50 points- including six of the last eight games overall.
- UConn improves to 59-2 in its last 61 games vs. BIG EAST opponents in the regular season.
- Ketia Swanier scored a season-high 10 points.
- Charde Houston has posted double-figure points in six of 11 games this season.
- All 11 active players on the UConn roster scored in the win.
- Rashidat Sadiq's 16 points mark a season high.
POST GAME QUOTES
Head Coach Geno Auriemma
“She came out with a lot of energy. I was happy for her. She can get in the lane and make plays on the run. It’s walking and standing still that she’s got a problem with. She’s fun to watch. She’s got a lot of skills. She’s unique in that sense. We just don’t have anybody like that. It would be nice if we could get her to be like that on a regular basis.”
What good things happened today?
“The number one thing that happened today was that we only turned the ball over five times. For us that is something that we’ve really been harping on. I thought we did our part on the defensive end. On the offensive end we created an up-tempo game that we wanted to create. We seemed to get an awful lot of people involved in what we were doing.”
On the upcoming game against Tennessee
“I’m sure we’ll go in Saturday and play hard. I’m sure we’ll be in the game. They’re struggling too. They are having some of the similar problems. I think Saturday’s going to be an interesting game.”
Junior Ann Strother
“(In the second half) we didn’t come out the way we should have. That’s the bottom line. We went two minutes without scoring so we deserved (to be taken out of the game)”
Did you guys take anything out of this game?
“Yes. There were a lot of good things that we did. We got back to Connecticut basketball. For one of the first times, it was a lot of fun because everyone was really into it.”
After the last few games, what is the message that you would give to the younger players?
“I think that the energy that we’ve had the last couple of games, this game especially, is what we’re going to need to carry us through the next stretch. Not just Saturday either. We have a tough stretch coming up and we’re going to need to come out with that energy every game if we want to get anything done.”
Freshman Mel Thomas
How well did this game prepare you guys for Saturday?
“I thought that we just played really well together and that will help us out a lot. It was a great team effort and when he brought out the second team in the second half, they brought a lot of energy. It was a team win.”
What is the most important thing that you need to work on to prepare for your upcoming stretch?
“I think really just playing together. Our offense did a lot better today. We only had 5 turnovers so that was a real improvement.”
Freshman Charde Houston
“As far as playing together it does a lot, but the next couple practices are really going to show how much we’ve grown and boost our confidence. [Today’s game] boosts our confidence in the sense that we played together. We were able to come together as one and execute and do the things we needed to do on both ends of the floor.”
Freshman Ketia Swanier
“I just kind of went out there and I just played today, you know, [I was] just playing, [you have to] have fun, don’t think about mistakes, don’t think about anything, just play.”
