University of Connecticut Athletics
Thomas and Turner Lead No. 9/9 Huskies Past
12/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
HARTFORD, Conn. (Dec. 19, 2005) - Sophomore Mel Thomas (Cincinnati, Ohio) equaled her career-high with 23 points and senior Barbara Turner (Cleveland, Ohio) registered a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds as the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team posted a 81-54 win over Holy Cross on Monday night before a crowd of 13,106 at the Hartford Civic Center.
The double-double for Turner was the second of the season for her and the eighth of her career. It marked the fourth double-double of the season for the Huskies. Thomas had also scored 23 points in the season-opening win over Marist this year. She tied her career-high with five three-point successes.
The No.9/9-ranked Huskies improve to 8-1 on the season after a 10-day layoff for final exams while the Crusaders fall to 3-6.
Joining Thomas and Turner in double figures for the Huskies was senior forward Ann Strother (Castle Rock, Colo.) with 16 points.
UConn started the game by scoring ten-straight points in the first four minutes of the game as five different Huskies scored baskets. Holy Cross did not go away quietly though as the Crusaders went on a run of their own and scored 13 of the game’s next 17 points and trailed by just one (14-13) with 12:33 left to play in the half.
The Huskies led 18-17 with 9:51 to play but started to pull away from the Crusaders as they went on a 15-3 run and took a 33-20 lead with 5:46 left to play in the first half. Connecticut eventually had a 17-point lead at halftime, 40-23.
The Huskies enjoyed a 48-37 rebounding advantage, paced by Turner and fellow senior Willnett Crockett (Harbor City, Calif.), who snared nine. The Huskies forced 23 turnovers, which were converted into 25 points.
Holy Cross was led in scoring by Kaitlin Foley with 12 points while Brittany Keil had 11 and Shannon Bush added 10.
The Huskies return to action on Thursday when they play host to Hofstra at the Hartford Civic Center at 7:00 p.m. The game will be televised by CPTV.
Game Notes
ü UConn opened the game with a 10-0 run over the initial 4:00.
ü UConn improves to 154-3 vs. unranked opponents since January 31, 1999.
ü UConn extended its home court winning streak vs. non-ranked foes to 175 consecutive games.
ü Barbara Turner’s 14 points moved her past Kris Lamb into 22nd place on the UConn career scoring list with her current total of 1255.
ü UConn won its 13th consecutive meeting with Holy Cross.
ü Mel Thomas’ 23 points mark the 12th time in her career she has posted double figure points and the sixth time this season.
ü Mel Thomas’ five 3-point field goals tied her career high.
ü Mel Thomas’ 23 points tied her career-high single-game scoring total.
Post Game Quotes
University of Connecticut
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On Mel Thomas:
“Last year when we played Holy Cross it was the same thing. They wanted to play Ann a lot of man-to-man and zone with everyone else. A lot of times if there is enough movement people are going to get confused in their assignments. There were times when Mel, because of some good ball movement, found herself open. The good thing about Mel is right now she is in the mode of catch and shoot.”
“I think Willnett had maybe one basket tonight, but what she did was she kept a lot of possessions going. One of the things we are trying to do now is try to get between 10 and 15 more shots than the other team. One way to do that is either force turnovers or get offensive rebounds that prolong the possessions. I thought Will was really instrumental in that. There was a point in time where she was the only one that was offensive rebounding. It was good for her to contribute like that. I didn’t think I would go to her either. I wasn’t planning on playing her much, but I am glad I did.”
Was tonight an example of what Kalana Greene is going through right now?
“Yes. Kalana is really good. The problem is there is an energy level that you have to have, and you have to be able to sustain it. You have to make yourself hard to guard. I have been harping on that. She sometimes just goes up and down the floor and makes herself easy to play against. When she has the ball and is being aggressive she is very hard to guard. When you are really good you have to play good. She is really good.”
On tonight’s game:
“It wasn’t perfect. Usually you get these kinds of games where you play lousy, you’re sluggish and you can’t get anything going. It is a real grind after exams. It wasn’t one of those. We had long stretches where we flowed pretty well. The way we started the game I thought was like the old days.”
On Barbara Turner:
“Barbara is a little bit quicker than she was. I think she has gotten out of her head that she has to get 20 (points) every night or I have to look for my shot every time down the floor. She is not thinking like that anymore. She is thinking about making that play that maybe doesn’t look like a great play or doesn’t show up in the box scores as a great play. She made a couple of passes to Ann today that I thought were indicative of where she is right now. She is thinking us first instead of me first. That is what you want your seniors to do.”
On Ann Strother and Barbara Turner’s chemistry:
“Ann and Barbara are working really well right now. They have a sense for each other. You see it in practice a lot too. There is a real connection there. When you play as much basketball together as they have then some things just come naturally to you. Right now it seems to be that way.”
On the team’s performance
“We got a lot of things done offensively. There were some possessions where we didn’t get as much done as we wanted to but on the defensive end we were making plays, getting in the passing lane and getting steals… We just have to take the positives from this game and keep working and continue to get better.”
Did you get a lot done on the days you had off?
“We did a lot of soul searching. Coach did a lot of talking; he let us know our roles and what we need to do to make our team good. I think everybody did a good job of that today, especially Will. She did an exceptional job on the board, that’s the Will I know. That’s the Will everybody knows and loves. If we can continue to get that from her, then we have a chance of keeping the feeling.”
Is it frustrating when Will plays so well sometimes?
“I wouldn’t say frustrating, its just that you want to see it more and me and Ann try to let her know that when we were coming back here to do media. She said that it’s something that she’s going to continue to work at, just try to grow from it and get better…. It’s just effort. She had that extra burst today; she had that extra step. She was getting to a lot of balls that Will normally gets to. She had it in her today and I think the lay off really helped her do some soul searching and let her know what she needs to do to make our team good.”
Do you feel that you are in a rebounding rhythm?
“Yes, when you get a couple of offensive rebounds, you’re always in a rhythm.”
How do you know when you are in that rhythm?
“I don’t think you know, it’s more like a sense that ‘hey I have to get this rebound.’ So you try to out man the defensive or offensive player depending on what you’re playing in and you just go for the ball and hopefully they don’t call a foul.”
Have you been working on rebounding in practice?
“A lot of the time in practice we start to play against each other and we are all trying to be competitive on the offensive and defensive end. Going against each other helps us out definitely during the game.”
When you play is it about attitude?
“I think it’s that way with anybody. You don’t have too much time so you just want to go out there and contribute to your team. If it’s hustling, rebounding and playing defense, I’m going to do that.”
Is it different now that it’s your senior year?
“You can always think about it as being your last go around but you just want to go out there and play, give something to your team. Whatever it might be, you just want to give it to them. Coach always reminds us that we are seniors and about the past three years.”
Are you guys happy, overall, with the game?
“Yes. I think it was good. Obviously there are still things we need to work on. Too many turnovers, there’s some rebounding things we need to do but for the most part, I think it was a step in the right direction.”
Is it important for you, personally, to carry that aggressive mindset and try to score and make things happen?
“Yes. I think that’s something that I need to do from here on out. What ever it takes, I’m willing to do for us.”
On Mel Thomas
“She played really well. She was looking to score, looking to shoot and looking for a shot. No matter what happens, Mel’s always doing something on the court. She’s diving on the floor, grabbing loose balls, grabbing steals, she’s everywhere. So, even if she doesn’t have a shooting game, she still gets a lot done. She never really has a bad attitude or gets down.”
Are you ever worried about her (Mel Thomas) falling into a little slump like last year?
“Not really. I feel like anytime she gets like that she’s willing to do what she has to do to try to get out of it. Every shooter goes into a slump sometimes but I feel like she’s always willing to do whatever it takes to get out of it.”
Does it make a difference for you when she (Mel Thomas) scores?
“Definitely. Anytime you add someone who’s going to knock down wide open shots like that and look to score and be aggressive it just adds opportunities for all of us.”
“It’s tough. There are so many things going through your head as a freshman. Knowing the plays, knowing when to cut, knowing what to do. It’s tough to find a balance. It’s something that you just have to help them play through to find.”
Did you look to be more a part of the offense?
“Yes. I just came out ready to shoot and I got a lot of open shots. I found myself open a lot and I just came in knowing that I needed to contribute.”
Is the transition game something that you guys need to do more often?
“I think we did a good job pushing the ball tonight but I think we could have done a better job. In the future games I think we need to do that more to be professional.”
Does it help everyone when you start to score?
“It definitely does because Ann (Strother) gets doubled a lot so when I’m making shots, they can’t double her. When anybody scores a lot it’s going to open up a lot of opportunities.”
Do you need to be more conscious of scoring?
“Yes. I need to look to score more. The more I score, it’s going to help our team and help everybody else be more open.”
“It’s a lot different as a freshman because you just don’t have the knowledge of the offense of our game. It’s hard especially when you don’t play a lot then you play a lot. It’s hard to get that balance.”
Is it something (not getting a balance) you just have to fight through?
“Yes, I think so. You just learn so much, especially your freshman year. It’s just a learning process and I think she’s (Kalana Greene) doing good.”
College of the Holy Cross
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On the Game:
I thought we played really hard and did the uniform proud. I think the reason they play us every year is because we can go toe to toe. I think the ten-zero start hurt us, but we came back to be fourteen-thirteen. We can take some positives out but we just had too many lapses on defense in the second half. We let (Mel) Thomas get open for too many threes and we talked about that at half time. You just can’t have that with a team like this. It’s ok in the Patriot League, but not her like this. We also missed (Laura) Aloisi against their pressure. She’s arguably our best player, our best ball handler. I decided to rest her. I told the other young players to learn from this. Playing this game helps us play better and helps us recruiting wise and helps the fan base and the name of the program. I am going to continue playing these games.
On Missed Shots
Despite the number of points I thought we did a pretty good job defensively. But you have to make shots! Tonight we didn’t make enough of them. We didn’t execute as well. A lot of times it’s the pass that makes the shot no good. We weren’t as crisp as we usually are. Junior Kaitlin Foley was playing on one hip tonight. I didn’t think we got her the ball enough in the first half. She’s a great scorer. She’s one of the kids I’m blessed with at Holy Cross. I though se did some good things, we just didn’t do enough of them for long stretches and we didn’t make enough shots.
What is the difference Mel Thomas (UConn) made this year compared to last year?
She gives the team another open look. The only main thing we could have done was play triangle and two, and we hadn’t practiced that enough. She provides another score and another weapon. She also extends the difference. At other times I thought (Nicole) Wolfe would have been that difference, but obviously Thomas is getting the minutes because she can do that for Geno.
How do you think the team played today?
There were some good points from our team’s performance. Today was a great opportunity as well as a great challenge. It gives us a chance to measure our selves where we are right now coming off our non-conference schedule. There also was some room for improvement. They’re one of the best teams in the country and it was just a great opportunity.
Is playing UConn as intimidating as it was years ago?
I think that being able to play Connecticut every year is a great opportunity and challenge. We look forward to this game every single year; from the players down to the coaching staff. Whether it’s here or in Worcester, I think it’s definitely a highlight for our non-conference schedule. We can measure where we stand now; see what we need to improve at games like these.
