University of Connecticut Athletics
Women's Basketball Outpaces the Jaguars in Exhibition Opener
11/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HARTFORD, Conn. (November 1, 2005) – Sophomore Charde Houston (San Diego, Calif.) had 20 points and seven rebounds while senior Barbara Turner (Cleveland, Ohio) picked up a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds as the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team opened the 2005-06 season with a 71-65 exhibition win over the Houston Jaguars on Tuesday evening in the Hartford Civic Center.
Freshman Renee Montgomery (St. Albans, W. Va.) got things started for UConn, picking up her first points as a Husky from behind the arc just 38 seconds into play to give the Huskies the quick 3-0 lead. Despite that opening, the UConn offense struggled through the beginning of the first half, scoring only 19 points in the first 14 minutes of play. With 6:00 remaining in the half, Montgomery buried another three-pointer to again give UConn the lead, this time at 19-18. It was all UConn from there on out, as the Huskies went on a 24-6 run to close out the first half, taking a 40-24 lead into the break.
Houston led UConn by going 6-for-7 from the floor in the half with 16 points, including 12 points during the UConn run. The Husky bench scored 23 points in the first half to the Jaguars six while each team had 12 turnovers in the back-and-forth contest.
The Husky offense came out flat to start the second half, picking up just four points to start the stanza. As UConn held a 57-41 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the game, the Jaguars began clawing their way back, cutting the UConn lead to nine points on a jumper by Brandy Jones with 2:54 left to play. Jones had 14 points in the game, all of which came in the second half. The Huskies would score just six more points in the half as Houston went on a 9-6 run to close out the game.
In addition to Houston and Turner’s efforts, Montgomery closed out her Husky debut with 11 points and four steals. Senior Ann Strother (Castle Rock, Colo.) had seven points and four assists in the win while sophomore Mel Thomas (Cincinnati, Ohio) scored seven points off the bench for the Huskies.
Melissa Abraham joined Jones with 14 points for the Jaguars, including going 8-for-8 from the free throw line. Both teams struggled to hold onto the ball throughout the game, with Houston recording 28 turnovers and UConn 29.
This was the sixth consecutive exhibition win for the Huskies. Their last exhibition loss came against the Jaguars, a 79-73 decision on Nov. 13, 2002 at Gampel Pavilion.
The Huskies are next in action on Sunday, Nov. 6 when they will host Simon Frasier University in exhibition play in the Hartford Civic Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
Post Game Quotes
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On Sophomore Charde Houston:
“I thought she looked good considering she has been limited in practice. She just got back to being able to go full court just the other day. There are things that Charde does on the floor that are just impossible to describe at times and very difficult for most teams to match up with. There are times when she is our best rebounder, when she is our best ball handler or our best defender and makes a lot of stuff happen on the floor. Given that she hadn’t practiced I thought it was a great performance by her.”
On the turnovers:
“I think it is probably a little bit of everything, but at the same time, I remember one exhibition game when we had 35 turnovers. It just seems that early in the year there is a lot of that when players are not really sure. In our offense there is a lot of ball movement and people movement and the young guys struggle a lot with that. I think the team we played today was probably a lot quicker than you can simulate in practice sometimes. Some it was just new and some of it inexperience. I think some of the ones that we will see on the film were ones that were just not very smart basketball plays, bad decisions. I think we have to go back and clean all of that up if we want to get the season started right.”
Other than the turnovers was there anything else that stood out?
“We were talking after the game with the players. I think one of the really good things about having two point guards on the floor like we always have before is there is always an extra ball handler that can take the pressure off the other guy. I think we are going to have to find another reliable ball handler other than Renee (Montgomery) unless we want to put Ketia (Swanier) out there with her then that gives us two really small guards. I don’t think we are ready for that yet. Ann (Strother), Mel (Thomas), Nicole (Wolff) or Kalana (Greene), one of those guys is going to have to become a much better ball handler. I was kind of disappointed in the way they approached it. I think they put way too much stress on Renee. I though she handled herself well, but I think we are going to have to spread that around a little bit against pressure.”
On Brittany Hunter:
“I thought she did okay. I thought she got tired, but she did some good things. Right now we are just trying to find out what can she do? How much can she give us? Whatever it is it is. Hopefully we can get a little bit more (minutes) out of her on Sunday and a little bit more as we go along. Again, not having played and not having been familiar with what we are doing is going to be a little bit of an adjustment period for her.”
On Freshman Renee Montgomery
“Some players play in practice real well. Some players play in September real well. Some play in games real well. I think she is kind of a gutsy kid who likes the spotlight and likes playing. We were tracking how many times we deflected the ball. She had eight of them in the first half. She seemed to be everywhere. I think that is infectious. That starts to get more people involved. We start to feed off of that. I think that last 10 minutes of the first half is pretty much what I want her to build on.”
On the game
“I don’t want to start the season talking negatively. It’s a process. I think Coach is really adamant about us really focusing on the things that we need to do in practice. There are a lot of things that need to be worked on. It’s a good thing that we saw it now and not in January. There were some positives; more negatives than positives but it’s a process.”
Were you surprised by the number of negatives?
“Yea. I was shocked to be honest. I didn’t think we would have as many lows as we did. When we were good, we were really good. We pressured them a lot and we made a lot of plays and a lot of steals. So I think we need to come back and work on the things that we need to work on like taking care of the ball and being tough on offense and defense.”
“Renee’s solid. We knew that. She’s confident and that’s her best asset. I think that’s really good for our team. If she’s confident and composed and playing really tough then I think our team has a chance to be good.”
“What can you say? She just brings a whole other level to the game which I think is an added bonus. She just comes out there and opens the game up.”
On the Freshmen
“As upper classmen, as sophomores, we need to talk to them. We se that they need help. I was a freshman last year and I needed a lot of help. If you don’t understand d and you don’t know then you can’t get better.”
On the difference in her from last year
“I’m just trying to do more. I feel like I owe a lot to my teammates. I wasn’t the type of player I wanted to be last year and it’s something I don’t want to go back to. You always have moments that you do badly or you make bad decisions but I want to let my good decisions overshadow my bad ones.”
What were you expecting out of yourself in this game?
“I just wanted to play. I didn’t expect to play a lot because I don’t know the plays as well as I should and I understand that but I just wanted to go out there and try to make things happen”
How did you feel on your first time out there?
“When I first got out there of course I was nervous and anxious because you never know how you’re going to act in this atmosphere. I didn’t really know what to expect. Now, I’m glad that I have a game behind me and I know what to expect of the other players and of my teammates.”
Was it more than you thought it would be?
“It was pretty much what the coaches told me it would be like. I felt prepared. Of course there’s a lot I need to learn but I feel like the coaches didn’t lie. They told me exactly what I need to know.”
What is it like with the team looking to you as a leader?
“I just try to think about getting better. If coach has the confidence in me to lead the team, that makes me happy because that means that I must be doing something right. My main focus is to just get better.”
