University of Connecticut Athletics
Women's Basketball Dominant Over Simon Fraser
11/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
UConn shot a torrid 70-percent for the game (41-for-59) while holding down a 42-22 edge on the boards and a 64-22 advantage in points in the paint.
The Huskies went a perfect 2-0 on their exhibition season while the Clan went 0-2 on their tour of the states, also losing at UMass on Friday night. Based in the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, B.C., hometown of Joe Sakic, the Clan is one of Canada’s top women’s collegiate programs and has won several national championships in recent years.
The game began at a frantic pace. The Huskies got the game’s first two buckets courtesy of Willnett Crockett (Harbor City, Calif.) but the Clan would rally to go up 5-4 at the 17:49 mark. Barbara Turner (Cleveland, Ohio) sank a pair of free throws at 17:17 and on UConn’s next possession dished to Charde Houston (San Diego, Calif.) on an inbounds pass for an easy lay-in. Mel Thomas stole the ball on the Clan’s next possession and hit a three-pointer at the other end to open up an 11-5 Husky edge at 16:18. SFU closed the gap to 11-9 at 15:25 when Courtney Gerwing drove for a bucket off of a UConn turnover, one of four for the Huskies before the first media timeout.
Coming out of the break, Kalana Greene (Saint Stephen, S.C.) stole a pass, drove the length of the court and laid it in for a 13-9 UConn edge at 14:49. The Clan shot the three with regularity and Deven Campbell connected on one with 13:06 to play, bringing SFU to within one point at 13-12, but Thomas would swish one of her own moments later from the top of the key to kick start a 7-0 UConn run that also saw a put back by Greene and a 15-foot jumper by Turner. The sided traded baskets over the next several minutes, giving UConn a 24-17 advantage at the second media timeout, called with 9:38 remaining in the half.
UConn expanded its lead to a game-high nine points on a Houston move in the paint that made it 26-17 for the Huskies at 9:15. After the Clan bricked another three-point attempt, Crockett dropping in a short jumper to give UConn a 28-17 lead at 8:35 and force Simon Fraser to call a 30-second timeout. Out of the break, the Clan ran a good set play as Lani Gibbons fired a pass to Campbell in the paint for an over-the-head bucket in a rare two-point attempt. UConn responded with freshman Renee Montgomery finding an open Houston to allow the Huskies to regain their 11-point advantage at 30-19 with 7:55 left in the opening stanza.
The Clan would cut UConn’s edge to nine points on two occasions in the following minutes but the Huskies would keep the heat on, opening up a 35-23 edge at the 6:00 mark after a Thomas three. After the lead ballooned to 14 points on a 12-foot Greene jumper, the Clan responded with a layin at 4:15 by Gibbons, a diminutive guard from Salmon Arm, B.C.
The Clan missed their final five shots of the half, four of them three-pointers, while Hunter grabbed two of the defensive rebounds and hit a pair of buckets herself on the offensive end to give the Huskies a 41-25 lead at half time.
UConn connected on 64-percent of its first half shots (18-for-28) and outrebounded the Clan 18-12. Of SFU’s 30 first half shots, 18 were from beyond the three-point arc and the Clan connected on just three of those. Thomas led UConn with nine points at the break while Crockett and Greene each had eight. Greene also had four assists and three steals.
Thomas opened the second half’s scoring with a long jumper at 19:38. The shot started a 6-2 Husky run over the first two minutes that included buckets in the paint by Houston and Crockett. After another Houston jumper and a pair of hoops by Turner, the second on an uncontested drive through the lane, UConn led 53-31 by the first media time out. A trio of Hunter hoops gave the Huskies a 28-point cushion at the 14:16 mark and forced a Simon Fraser timeout after the Clan was outscored 18-6 over the second half’s first 5:48. The run would later grow to 21-6 as the Clan, which dressed just nine players (all 6’0” or under) started to wear down.
A Ketia Swanier (Columbus, Ga.) free throw and lay-in by Hunter were the only baskets for either side over the next three minutes as the Huskies led 62-31 with 11:18 remaining. The Clan hit just three of its first 15 shots in the half while UConn continued to sizzle, connecting on 10-of-16.
Just as SFU started to awaken with Campbell hitting on an old-fashioned three point play out of a media timeout at 10:56, Houston answered for UConn on the ensuing possession muscling her way to the basket and drawing a foul, which she converted. The Houston three point play started a 14-3 run over the next five minutes as poor shooting continued to doom Simon Fraser.
A Crockett jumper at 5:30 pushed the Huskies to the 80-point plateau at 80-39. Hunter’s nifty hi-low pass to Greene for an easy lay-in gave UConn an 84-39 cushion with 4:18 to play. After being outscored 43-14 over the second half’s first 16 minutes, the Clan had a strong finish to the game, as they put in seven points down the stretch to account for the 92-46 final score.
Senior Ann Strother (Castle Rock, Colo.) and junior Nicole Wolff (Walpole, Mass.)both missed the exhibition game for precautionary reasons. Strother has a sore calf while Wolff suffered a mild concussion earlier this week during practice.
The Huskies will open their 2005-06 regular season schedule on Saturday, Nov. 12 when they play host to Marist in the opening round of the Preseason WNIT. Tipoff at Gampel Pavilion is set for 7:00 p.m.
Post Game Quotes
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Are you happy with where you are at right now?
“Yes. I think for the most part. You always think the first exhibition game is going to be a bit of a mess because you don’t know what you are getting, especially when you’ve got young point guards. I thought the improvement from Tuesday to today was significant. I would like to think that we can have the same level of improvement between now and Saturday. Obviously we have a lot to do because we have only been practicing for three weeks. I feel pretty good about where we are.”
Is Kalana Greene the new Ashley Battle"
“We were talking about that. She probably is not as fast as Ashley Battle. She finished around the basket unlike a lot of new kids. She has a pretty good mid-range game. Today, she showcased the fact that she rebounds also and plays defense. I thought we were getting a really good player when we recruited her, and today she showed it. I thought she was real aggressive, and that is going to work for us no matter who we play.”
Is Brittany Hunter farther along than you anticipated?
“Looking at it now we are right where we want to be. I thought somewhere between 15 and 20 (minutes) would be good. She is clearly a lot bigger and stronger than a lot of the kids we have been playing against. She has figured out where to catch the ball in our offense. She was not all over the place. She looked like she was very much under control. I think she looks much more composed right now, and that is only going to get better and better as time goes on. I think she feels like since she has been told her leg is healthy that is how she is going to play. That is how she is approaching it. She goes after every shot. That is not going to change. She goes after loose balls, and she is a big presence inside.”
On Barbara Turner:
“She was put in a tough spot today because we played her out of position a lot to make up for Ann (Strother) and Nicole (Wolff) not playing. I would like to do that more often this year. In order for her to do that this year she has to be a good ball handler. She has to be a good passer. A day like today is good.”
On Mel Thomas:
“It has been frustrating because you know she is a good shooter. Whereas last year she would become real tentative and stop, now she it is more like on with the next one, on with the next one. Without Ann and without Nicole out there we really did need someone to step up and make some shots early on. It seemed like the kids were looking for her, and she was looking to be more aggressive. That is how she has played throughout most of the preseason.”
What does it mean to you to be able to play nineteen minutes in the game?
“It feels good because I’m not in the best shape that I need to be in, but I think I pushed myself a lot more and it’s good to feel like I contributed to the team. At the same time, I could make a lot more passes and get a lot of other people open.”
Are you farther along right now that you anticipated?
“I would say as far as my knee goes, yes. I’m out of shape though; I missed all of preseason so I’m not where I want to be, but I think as far as jumping and reaction things I’m where I want to be.”
What’s the biggest difference in your game between this year and last year?
“It’s the last year out and you just want to go out there and you want to set the tone, obviously you want to be a leader, you want to do whatever you can to help your teammates out, and if it’s hustling, making lay ups, rebounds, whatever it is, you just want to go out there and contribute.”
Do you feel like you are shooting differently?
“Over the summer I worked on a lot of things, but mostly it’s just thinking its going in and knowing its going in.”
Do you think the team is in a good place right now?
“You don’t want to get overly confident about this game; you don’t want to think you’re the best team in the country or anything like that. You just want to build on it and hopefully we can place just as well again when we play on Saturday and hopefully we can carry this over into practice tomorrow and give coach something to feel good about…”
Were you being tentative on Tuesday night?
“Yes, I think so. It was more mentally, when you hold back mentally and you hold back physically, and I guess today I was thinking, ‘go out there and contribute.’”
