Huskies Storm Past Rutgers, 80-42
Box Score
PISCATAWAY, NJ (Feb. 23, 2002) -- Led by senior Swin Cash (McKeesport, PA)
with 18 points and eight rebounds, the No. 1 University of Connecticut women’s
basketball team stormed past rival Rutgers, 80-42, Saturday afternoon at the
Louis Brown Athletic Center. With the win, UConn clinches the outright BIG EAST
regular season championship with a 15-0 conference mark and a 29-0 record
overall. Rutgers is 8-18, 5-10 in the conference.
UConn started strong, posting the game’s first six points en route to a 28-11
advantage midway through the first half. Rutgers narrowed the Husky lead to
28-16 after five unanswered points, but UConn ended the first half on a 15-6 run
to take a 43-22 advantage to the intermission.
The Huskies connected on 55.6 percent of their shots from the field in the
first half, compared to a 33.3 percentage for the Scarlet Knights, who entered
the contest ranked 12th in the BIG EAST in field goal percentage and 13th in
scoring offense.
Although Rutgers registered the first bucket of the second half and managed
to keep the Huskies from inflicting further damage for the first few minutes of
the stanza, UConn surged to a 30-point lead at 60-30 with 11:32 left to play,
thanks in part to the Scarlet Knights’ shooting woes. Much like the first half,
Rutgers struggled to find its offense with a second half field goal percentage
of 30.8.
Meanwhile, the UConn offense continued to roll, as the Huskies shot 50.9
percent in the game. UConn also beat Rutgers on the boards with a 46-25
rebounding advantage.
Cash paced a well-rounded Husky effort, as each player who saw action found
her way into the scoring column. Senior Sue Bird (Syosset, NY) had 14 points,
while sophomore Diana Taurasi (Chino, CA) had 11, including three
three-pointers.
For Rutgers, Mauri Horton posted 23 points on 9-for-20 shooting.
UConn concludes its regular season with a 7 p.m. matchup with West Virginia
in Morgantown, WV, on Tuesday night. The Huskies seek to go undefeated in the
regular season for the first time since the 1996-97 season. |
