Barbara Turner's 14 Points Pace No. 9/7 UConn in Win Over No. 13/15 DePaul in BIG EAST Tournament Semifinal
UConn advances to play West Virginia on Tuesday night in the BIG EAST Championship game

Box Score (.pdf)
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HARTFORD, Conn. (March 6, 2006) – Senior Barbara Turner (Cleveland, Ohio) led three Huskies in double-figures with 14 points as the No. 2 seeded University of Connecticut women’s basketball team held off No. 3 seed DePaul, 69-57, in the semifinals of the 2006 BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Championship at the Hartford Civic Center. 

UConn, which is 28-4 overall on the season, advances to face No. 12 seed West Virginia in the final on Tuesday evening. The Mountaineers, who knocked off No. 1 seeded Rutgers earlier on Monday, will bring a 15-15 record to the matchup as the first No. 12 seed to ever advance to a BIG EAST women’s basketball title game. Tuesday’s game will mark the 12 time in 13 seasons that the Huskies have played in the championship game of the BIG EAST Tournament.

In addition to scoring in double-figures for the 12^th time in UConn’s last 13 contests, Turner pulled down six rebounds, dished out two assists and grabbed one steal. Joining the senior in double-figures was her classmate Ann Strother (Castle Rock, Colo.) who scored 13, and freshman Renee Montgomery (St. Albans, W.Va.) who tallied 12 on the night. Strother also grabbed three boards and three steals while Montgomery pulled down a career-high seven rebounds and dished out a game-high four assists.

After opening the game with a 4-3 advantage, UConn held the lead until the 10:24 mark when the Blue Demons knotted the score at 18 all. Although the Huskies would lead by as much as 10 at various points throughout the remainder of the half, DePaul continued to battle back and trailed just 38-33 at the break. To hold off the late Blue Demon charge, sophomore Brittany Hunter (Columbus, Ohio) scored four points in the last 2:40 of the half and Montgomery and sophomore Charde Houston (San Diego, Calif.) each tallied two. 

The Huskies saw their lead increase to open the second stanza, as a deep three pointer from the wing by Strother built the lead to nine at 49-40 with 15:22 remaining in play. However, an 11-2 run by DePaul over the next six minutes of action tied the score again, this time at 51-51 with 8:43 left to play. The Blue Demons stayed with Connecticut for the next few minutes, but a layup by Strother after a great feed from senior Willnett Crockett (Harbor City, Calif.) at the top of the key gave the Huskies the 62-55 lead and took the wind out of DePaul’s sails with 4:14 left. The Blue Demons would score just two more points on free throws as the Huskies picked up seven. 

For the game, UConn was 27-for-52 from the floor for a 53.6% shooting percentage. The Huskies pulled down 33 rebounds, including 24 on the defensive end, but were out-boarded by DePaul, who grabbed 35. Connecticut turned the ball over 15 times and scored 19 points off of the Blue Demon’s 20 miscues. The Huskies picked up 15 steals in the game, including four from sophomore Mel Thomas (Cincinnati, Ohio). That total tied her career-high. Crockett had a solid defensive effort for Connecticut, grabbing seven rebounds along with Montgomery and tied her career-best with three steals. 

DePaul, against whom the Huskies finished the season 2-0, wrapped up the 2005-06 season with a 25-6 overall record. Leading the way for the Blue Demons was Khara Smith, who led all scorers with 18 points in the matchup. She also pulled down 10 rebounds to be the only player to tally a double-double for the game. Allie Quigley also had 14 points for DePaul and grabbed four steals.  

UConn’s championship matchup against West Virginia will be broadcast live on ESPN2. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Game Notes 

ü      UConn is now 16-2 in BIG EAST semifinal games.

ü      UConn is 2-0 this season versus DePaul gaining the lead in their all-time series,  2-1.

ü      In the Hartford Civic Center UConn is 65-9 including an 11-1 record in 2005-06.

ü      As the No. 2 seed the Huskies are 7-1.

ü      UConn is 25-3 when the BIG EAST Tournament is held in the state of Connecticut.

ü      Connecticut moves to 104-45 all-time versus ranked opponents, with a 4-4 mark this season.

ü      The Huskies are 6-4 this season when out-rebounded by their opponent.

ü      Head Coach Geno Auriemma coached in his 700^th game tonight in the win versus DePaul.

ü      The 2006 senior class is 121-17 overall at UConn.

ü      The 2006 senior class is also 38-5 when playing in the Hartford Civic Center.

ü      Ann Strother has now played in 138 games, she has passed Nykesha Sales and Kara Wolters for fifth place in games played for UConn.

ü      Ann Strother’s 3-pointer gives her 279 for her career, this is good enough to tie her with Wendy Davis for second on Connecticut’s all-time list.

ü      Ann Strother’s 13 points marked the 23^rd time this season and 86^th time in her career that she has scored in double figures.

ü      Barbara Turner’s 14 points marks the 12^th time in the last 13 games she has scored in double figures. Two in a row at the 2006 BIG EAST Tournament. It was the 19^th time for her this season.

ü      Barbara Turner is averaging 16.5 points per game in the 2006 BIG EAST Tournament.

ü      Mel Thomas’ four steals ties her career high.

ü      Renee Montgomery registered a career high 7 rebounds.

Post Game Quotes

University of Connecticut

Head Coach Geno Auriemma 

Are you disappointed that you won’t face Rutgers for a third time this season?

“No. the goal is not to play Rutgers three times, the goal is to win the BIG EAST championship. It would be disrespectful to West Virginia to think like that. We set out to get ourselves in position to win the championship and we will put ourselves in the same position to win the next one.” 

How dangerous is West Virginia?

“Well they are playing with a lot of confidence right now. When Meg Bulger got hurt my first reaction was to feel terrible for kids like that. I’ve experienced that in my own coaching career. One of the things that struck me was that they are going to be harder to play against. Before you knew Meg was going to make 20 shots and if you guard her that takes care of that. Now you don’t know where the shots are coming from. Everyone is contributing. I think Mike Carey has done a fabulous job with that team. He told me last night that he only brought 2 shirts. He deserves it.” 

Players: Barbara Turner, Brittany Hunter, and Mel Thomas 

Can you talk about the toughness you showed during the last stretch? (Barbara Turner)

“Through out the whole game we just focused on keeping our composure. We knew they had a run in them; they’re a great offensive team. It was just a matter of just us not making mistakes that we’ve made before. Everybody did and we just went from there.” 

Did playing last night help you in being able to go the distance in today’s game? (Mel Thomas)

“I think it helped me get back in the swing of things. I haven’t practiced a whole lot in the past week and half. It felt good to just get in there a little bit last night and then today I was back to normal.” 

What are your thoughts on playing West Virginia? (Barbara Turner)

“Usually in the tournament it’s about what team is hot and they’re hot right now. We have to treat it as if we were playing Rutgers who was the number one seed. We know that. That’s what we’re going to focus on tonight and work on tomorrow.” 

How do you feel right now after being out for so long? (Brittany Hunter)

“I feel pretty confident in my play right now. I think it’s all due to practice and my teammates and coaches being so supportive. It’s all in the concentration level. You just have to be held accountable and just try a lot more.”

DePaul

Head Coach Doug Bruno 

On the game:

“We started too fast. We wanted to be a team that wasn’t afraid to push the tempo with Connecticut, but at the same time we went too quick early in the game. Then we settled down, and the players did a commendable job of counter-punching. I don’t know if we were ever in the position to be the puncher, but we did counter-punch. We kept fighting back, and I’m pleased with the fact that the kids kept fighting and kept punching. I don’t want to say we have to play a perfect game, but at the same time you can’t let Ann Strother get off. I thought Holly Medley put some gasoline in Ann’s fire in the second half, and I didn’t think we paid enough attention to details. The accumulation of little details can lead to a big result. Barb Turner and Willnett, they are all big time athletes, and you just want your players to pay attention. I never thought we got in a great, consistent rhythm. It’s a good UConn team, and I really do believe that they can make some serious noise in the NCAA Tournament.” 

On scoring zero field goals in the final 7 minutes:

“I thought we got some pretty good looks in the last 7 minutes, we got the ball where we wanted to get it; we got the ball down low. Now, you say the last 7 minutes, but once we got spread out in the last 1-2 minutes, we had to start trying to get quick shots. This is a tough team to get quick shots against. So really it was more of a 4-5 minute stretch where we didn’t score. They’re just a big-time team playing a big-time game in a big-time atmosphere.”