Barbara Turner's 17
Points Not Enough as No. 4/3 Women's Basketball Falls to Rutgers
60-56
Huskies fall to 10-1 in the BIG EAST, next up
Texas for game Sunday at 3 p.m. (ET)
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STORRS, Conn. (February 7, 2006) –
No. 4/3 UConn trimmed a 14-point Rutgers lead down to two with 1:29 remaining
in regulation, but came up just short, as it fell to No. 8/8 Rutgers by a score
of 60-56 on Tuesday
night in a soldout Gampel Pavilion.
 Senior Barbara Turner (Cleveland,
Ohio) paced the Huskies in the loss with a team-high 17 points, including eight
in the second half.
The
Huskies are now 21-3 overall and 10-1 against BIG EAST opponents. Rutgers is
18-3 overall and an unblemished 10-0 in conference play. The loss marked UConn’s
first to Rutgers in Gampel Pavilion, as the Huskies had captured each of the 11
prior contests between the two teams played in the building.
 Turner, who scored UConn’s first five
points of the game, also had five rebounds in the loss. It was the
fifth-consecutive game in which she had scored in double-figures. Joining Turner
was fellow senior Ann Strother (Castle Rock, Colo.), who had 15 points as
well as three rebounds. She scored nine of those points in the second half of
play, including two key three-point baskets in the middle of the stanza.
The opening of the game belonged to UConn,
as Turner tallied her first
 five points in the first 1:30 of action to give the
Huskies the quick lead. However, Connecticut’s last lead of the game would come
with 14:35 remaining in the half, as Rutgers came back to tie the score at 8-8
before going on an 11-0 run to open up a 21-10 lead with 7:38 remaining. The
Scarlet Knights led at the break, 27-21.
Rutgers
opened the second half much like they closed out the first, going on a 6-0 run
to open up a 14 point lead, their largest of the game, 40-26, with 13:36 left to
play. A clutch three-point play by freshman Kalana Greene (St. Stephen,
S.C.) started a UConn resurgence a minute later and the Huskies continued to
chip away at the Scarlet Knight’s lead before the first of Strother’s two from
behind the arc in the half went in at the 9:39 mark to cut the Rutgers advantage
to 10.
 That lead stayed steady until UConn went on
an 11-3 run to pull within two points, 58-56, with 1:29 remaining in play.
However, UConn could not convert on their next two trips down the floor and
Rutgers closed out the game with the four point advantage.
For
the game, UConn shot 34 percent from the floor. The Huskies went 8-for-33 in the
first half, a 24.2% shooting percentage. It was Connecticut’s lowest in any half
this season. Rutgers won the battle on the boards, 40-35, while also scoring 15
second-chance points to UConn’s two.
Senior Willnett Crockett (Harbor
City, Calif.) had a game-high 13 rebounds for UConn, also a new season-high for
her. Sophomore Ketia Swanier (Columbus, Ga.) dished out four assists for
the Huskies while both Crockett and Greene scored six points in the loss.
Rutgers was led by Cappie Pondexter, who
scored 18 points while pulling down four rebounds. Matee Ajavon had 16 points
and three assists for the Scarlet Knights while Michelle Campbell tallied 12
points to be the third member of the Rutgers squad in double-figures.
The Huskies will be in action next on
Sunday, Feb. 12 when they travel to Austin, Texas to take on the Texas
Longhorns. Game time is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. EST and can be seen live on
ESPN2.
Game Notes
ü
Tonight’s crowd of 10,167 marks the second straight sellout at
Gampel Pavilion and the 72nd in the last 77 games at the facility.
ü
UConn’s .242 (8-33) first-half shooting percentage marked UConn’s
lowest in any half this season.
ü
UConn’s 21 points in the first half tied for the fewest points it
has scored in any half this season.
ü
Barbara Turner’s 17 points mark the 12th game this
season, including the last five straight, she has posted double-figure points.
ü
Tonight’s loss snapped UConn’s season-best nine-game winning
streak.
ü
Tonight’s loss marked only UConn’s second at Gampel Pavilion in
the last seven seasons. The Huskies are 65-2 in their last 67 games at Gampel.
ü
Tonight’s loss trims UConn’s lead in the all-time series with
Rutgers to 18-3.
ü
Tonight’s loss marked UConn’s first home loss in the series with
Rutgers in 12 contests.
ü
UConn falls to 104-43 all-time vs. Associated Press ranked
opponents including 57-27 vs. top-10 ranked opponents.
ü
Ann Strother’s 15 points marked the 18th time she has
scored in double-figures this season and the 81st time in her career.
ü
Rutger’s Kia Vaughn fouled out at the 4:12 mark of the second
half
ü
UConn has not shot under .350 in back-to-back games since the
2002-03 season when it shot .298 at Seton Hall (1/15/03) and .327 versus
Georgetown (1/18/03)
Post Game Quotes
University of Connecticut
Head Coach Geno Auriemma
| Barbara Turner | Ann
Strother | Willnett Crockett |
Kalana Greene
Head Coach Geno Auriemma
On the last few possessions:
“If my recollection serves me right, there was one that we
had earlier that we got Barbara (Turner) open and we didn’t throw her the ball.
The last one that was how games are won or lost. Sometimes it almost doesn’t
matter what you do the whole game and it comes down to a possession or two. We
had something set up where we were going to get either three to win it or two to
tie it. It was either Barbara (Turner) or Ann (Strother). Obviously it broke
down. That happens, its ok. I don’t want to go into why. I could have fixed it
and I could have called a time out and I didn’t. That’s my fault. I could have
saved Ketia (Swanier) from taking that last shot that she took. I should never
have put her in that situation. We had a time out and I should have used it. I
am very disappointed in myself for that. We tried to get Barbara (Turner) for a
lay-up. If she made it, it would have been different coming back in. It would
have been Barbara (Turner) again, in a different scenario, or Ann (Strother) if
they switched. It just broke down.”
What worked in the last eight minutes that didn’t work
in the first 32 minutes of the game?
“I said going into the game that they were going to get 60
points. I never in a million years that we wouldn’t get 60, what happened there
in those 38 minutes was just a continuation of the West Virginia game. It’s hard
to explain. Chalk it up to lousy preparation. We can’t get into any kind of
offense. When we’re playing well, we are able to find people and our offense
gets moving. The pace that we were playing the first 32 minutes, we were walking
the ball up the floor. Everything has to be so perfect. Our margin of error is
so small; games like today are perfect examples of that. Mel (Thomas) just won’t
wait on a screen, so she will never get open in games like this. She just won’t
slow down. She’s never going to get open because she’s so impatient. She wants
to hurry up and get to where she’s going and she won’t wait. Until we can help
Mel (Thomas) be more patient she’s not going to get a shot. I though we did a
good job defensively in the first half. For us it was hard to find people to
contribute. It’s hard to find people to get into the game. Kalana (Greene) came
in and gave us a huge lift. That was the first burst of energy they got. In that
one stretch where we could have pulled ahead and won, Cappie Pondexter made some
amazing shots; shots that I thought were pretty hard to make. Our contributions
from a bunch of guys that we were hoping would play well didn’t play well.
Willnett (Crockett) played great and did what I would have expected her to do.
Ann (Strother) did what Ann can do in those kinds of games. Kalana (Greene) came
in and gave us a huge lift. Ketia (Swanier) was ok for long stretches. And that
was it and it wasn’t enough. If we would have made one defensive rebound in that
stretch where they got every offensive rebound it would have been great. I’m not
sure we deserved to win."
Do you think the team played with the right fire
considering the loss after last year?
“I can’t explain what happened in the first half. It seemed
like a combination of being hyper and a few who were really sluggish. Maybe they
were just trying too hard. “
Senior
Barbara Turner
How
difficult was this game for you guys?
“It was
hard. It hasn’t hit us yet because it just happened. There were a few things
that we didn’t do down the stretch that we needed to do in order to win the game
and that’s the reason it turned out the way it did. It hurts really bad and it
has to stick in the back of our minds. We still have a chance to tie and that’s
the way we have to look at it. It happened. We can’t change it. Obviously we’re
very disappointed. Coach is going to put a lot of the responsibility on himself
but the bottom line is that he can’t make the plays that we needed to make.
That’s just the way it went.”
On the
offense
“I just
think that everything was just kind of tentative from the beginning. We weren’t
on the attack like we’ve been when we were successful. The ball didn’t move well
enough. We started to resort to going one on one instead of executing the
offense and setting the right screens. That pretty much just trickled through
the rest of the game. It was the result of that last play. Everybody just played
too fast. We all should have been aware that Ketia (Swanier) was dribbling the
ball too long and called a time-out….we had a time-out left. That’s something
that we all have to know. All we can do is learn from it. It happened. We can’t
change it. We just have to move forward from it. It does hurt really bad though.
It’s pretty tough to swallow. You have to give them credit. They made big shots.
They made big plays. They played well on the defensive end. They got us out of
our stuff so you have to give them credit. I just feel like we lost that game.
We did get beat.”
On the
final play
“The play
was designed for us to go for the game winner and try to get the rebound but it
didn’t happen that way. They ended up switching on the screen and taking it
away. Ketia (Swanier) tried to make a play and you can’t fault her for that. It
was big of Will (Crockett) to go in there and even try to get the rebound.
That’s just the way it turned out. There’s nobody to blame. We didn’t make plays
prior to that to win the game so that’s what it all comes down to. It doesn’t
just come down to that last play.”
Was the
deficit just too big?
“No. Not
at all. There were seven minutes left. I looked at Coach when we were on the
bench and you could tell that he was a little frustrated with everybody. I said
there’s no way we’re losing this game. That’s just the way I felt. I felt like
we had another run in us, we had more fight in us. We weren’t just going to lie
down and get beat on our own floor. We made a run and we had chances. We were
down two and they get one offensive rebound. Sometimes it just comes down to one
play. That happened to us a couple of times. Matee (Ajavon) made a really,
really contested three in the corner. It comes down to stuff like that. I don’t
think you’re ever out of a game, down 14 with seven minutes left.”
Did you
feel like there wasn’t enough emotion on the bench or that maybe there was too
much?
“It’s
hard to describe. It was like everybody wanted to do it so bad that it just
turned out wrong. Coach came into the locker room at halftime and he just tried
to tell all of us to calm down. We all wanted to win really bad. You could tell
it was just rushed. Some of our shots were bizarre. Everything was just too
fast. I just tried to be that person that just kept everything going. Provide
the energy. It just wasn’t enough today. We just didn’t make the plays that we
needed to make and we have to accept it. We can’t change it.”
What do
you learn form this game?
“We learn
that when we’re in the huddle we really need to pay attention to detail. Make
sure that we understand that we know exactly what we’re trying to do. I think
that’s the most important thing. In a game like this all of that stuff
matters.”
Senior
Ann Strother
How badly
does this loss hurt?
“A lot.
Especially because they came in here on our court. They just kind of took
control and had the game in their hands for most of the game. It’s frustrating
to see that happen here in Gampel especially.”
What did
you learn from this game?
“If we
come out and play all scattered and not all on the same page offensively, this
is what will happen. It would have happened to any team in the league tonight.
We need to come and be focused and have everyone on the same page if we want to
play up to our ability.”
Where has
the offense gone in the last couple of games?
“I don’t
know what to tell you about that. I don’t know what to say. I feel like we
weren’t all on the same page and I don’t know why that is or what causes it. We
need to do whatever we need to do in the next couple of days at practice to get
that back.”
Was there
too much emotion tonight or not enough emotion?
“Going
into the game, I felt like everyone was really, really excited and had a lot of
energy and aggressiveness to come out and beat them. But when the game started
and we started to run the offense it seemed like it was flat for whatever reason
and that can’t happen.”
Senior Willnett Crockett
In the last minute of the game UConn was down two on
their home court with possession, how surprised are you that you are not sitting
here talking about an overtime victory?
“We’re surprised. Obviously you want to go into a situation
like that and come out with something, a foul, a shot, tie it up or even take
the lead. That didn’t happen but I think that we needed a game like this just to
wake us up and make us realize that everyday when we come into practice we need
to compete. We didn’t compete for long periods of time during the game
collectively and I think this will just wake us up.”
What are your feelings on what happened in the first
half?
“I think we wanted to win so badly that we were
overzealous. We were just to anxious and we didn’t let the game come to us. Our
defense was good, we held them to twenty-seven points it was just that our shots
weren’t falling and that’s going to happen. When it happens we just have to step
it up on defense and we did that. We need to get stops and do something if its
rebounds or whatever and at key points we didn’t do that.”
When you were away at Louisville you made the plays you
needed to at those key points, how do you feel about that?
“Sometimes you just have days like that when shots just
aren’t going in and that’s when you need people to crash the boards or whatever
it might be. At times when we needed that we didn’t have that, but like I said I
think we needed a game like this to wake us up so we could get back in practice.
We need to compete and go after each other and say that if we really want to do
this everybody has got to get on each other to come in day after day and ready
to step up and play.”
Were you surprised that after Saturday’s you made a lot
of similar mistakes this game?
“Yes, and obviously you want to come in set the tone,
especially playing against Rutgers on your home court. Things like that happen
and I think we did a good job of coming back on them but obviously we didn’t get
the win and we didn’t get the outcome that we wanted. Like I said, we just need
things like this to wake us up and I think we’re going to get back in practice
and keep this in the back our heads. We’re sitting in second place right now in
the Big East and if really want to do this, and I know we all do, then we just
have to compete day in and day out and everybody has to bring something to the
table.”
Freshman Kalana Greene
What do you take out of today’s game?
“You just have to compete and come ready to play everyday,
everyday in practice and every game. You have to be ready when Coach calls for
you. When he goes to the bench he’s not looking for anything to decrease, he
wants the game to step up. I just have to be ready for when he calls my name
from the bench and make plays when I go in.”
Do you think that you added a boost of energy for the
team?
“I made a couple big plays but we did a lot of things on
defense. We made a lot of good stops and got a lot of good rebounds. I think
that’s what started our runs. We lost the game but we still held them to sixty
points. We didn’t have one of the best shooting games but Rutgers came to play
and they out played us.”
Are you guys on edge now or will you just bounce back?
“We will bounce back. This is a game that we have to learn
from. This is not a downfall of the season, we just have to step up and take it
day by day and game by game.”
Rutgers University
Head Coach C.Vivian Stringer
| Matee Ajavon |
Cappie Pondexter | Essence Carson |
Michelle Campbell
Head Coach C. Vivian Stringer
On the rivalry:
“It’s nice all the time. Connecticut is a great team. I
think that great coaches like Geno and Pat Summit build character in players.
What really counts is the Big East Championship and the NCAAs. The great ones,
like that team and coach, we just let it go after their losses. I think it’s
nice for probably everybody that we win up here. Once in 50 years is nice. I’m
not willing to say a rivalry because a rivalry means that more often or not you
don’t know that outcome of the game. Every game that we approach, we always
approach to win. We certainly have not won as much as we’ve lost. With that in
mind, you guys probably like the fact that we always compete, we are a great
competing team and we are always going to compete. I’d like it to be a rivalry
at some point, when we’ve demonstrated that we can win more than once every two
years.”
On the game:
“I give it to the team. It was a heck of a game for us,
although I did think that our guards tried to find every way in the world not to
win. We just didn’t play well and it has something to do with the way
Connecticut’s defense is playing. For us the biggest surprise was the play of
Michelle Campbell and Kia Vaughn. The inside has not been a factor for us. They
did a hack of a job rebounding and a nice job of controlling. We were
experimenting playing Mariota Theodoris on Ann Strother for a while but Ann is
one of the greatest three-point shooters in the world. Mariota is a center. We
took a chance because Strother was playing the inside for a bit ,and we were
just lucky to get away with it.”
On Cappie Pondexter:
“Cappie wasn’t herself in the beginning of the game. She
can come up with incredible shots but she was waiting. It builds confidence to
win against one of the best teams in the country, and Cappie came back to give
direction to the younger players.”
On focusing on March:
“I’m not thinking about March. Connecticut is a special
team. They have been the most dominant team in recent history.”
On 43 second half points with only two assists:
“That was just amazing. Our guards didn’t play well. They
were too tentative and turned the ball over a lot. We weren’t running as much,
and there was a lack of defensive game.”
Matee Ajavon
On her three-pointer late in the game:
“I know UConn had sets on Cappie (Pondexter)…It was a
clutch shot. The shot was there and I took it. I’m fortunate that it went in.”
Cappie Pondexter
Did you feel mentally that you had the edge over UConn?
“We came out in the first five minutes very aggressive and
I think they didn’t really anticipate it. We definitely stepped up the defense,
when we needed to get a stop we definitely did.”
What does it mean to beat UConn on their home court?
“It’s definitely an accomplishment, but we can’t settle on
the win. We have seven more Big East games, we just look at it as a step towards
the Big East title.”
On trading three-pointers with Ann Strother in second
half:
“It was just the shot that was there. They were playing me
tight the whole night and I guess they went into a zone and really didn’t pay me
much attention and I felt I had a shot. “
Coach Auriemma said that nothing has changed, that UConn
still has a psychological stranglehold on you. Has anything changed, do you view
yourself differently now?
“It was big to come in here and win. It was the first time
in history. We can’t put everything on this game, they still have to come to our
place, we still have to come here for the Big East tournament, so there’s still
a lot in front of us.”
Is the opportunity to win a game like this the reason
you came back this season?
“We had such great young players last season that really
made a difference. We got stopped in the elite eight, but this year we have a
chance to come back and actually contend for a title. With Kia Vaughn in the
inside and Michelle Campbell and Mariota Theodoris, and of course the two great
guards, we really have a chance. We just have to get better, that’s the bottom
line.”
Where does tonight rank in your college career?
“I’m happy for Coach Stringer. We tried four years, it’s a
great feeling but it doesn’t stop here. We have a lot more to go and I’m looking
forward to it.”
Are you glad the basketball spoke for itself tonight?
“We have two great clubs who were undefeated in the Big
East and who contend for a title year in and year out. You can just expect that
intensity. I thought it was a great game for the players and the coaches, it was
great atmosphere. It’s going to prepare both teams when it’s coming down to
March Madness.”
Essence Carson
On UConn’s second half run:
“In every game we’ve played thus far, the opponent has had
their runs. It’s just up to us to really clamp down on defense and put a stop to
it. We really got the stops we needed at the crucial points of the game. They
came out and scored a couple buckets and we put an end to that and stepped our
defensive intensity up.”
Michelle Campbell
On rebounding and inside play:
“First of all we did out-rebound them, and that was
definitely a plus. They’re jumpers and they go after offensive boards a lot. The
first two fouls that were called were called on offensive rebounds, and that was
something that we took care of, and the rest of the game took care of itself.” |
