No. 1/1 Women’s Basketball Earns 74-69 win at No. 6/6 LSU
Huskies avenge loss in 2007 Elite Eight

BOX SCORE (.html)

BATON ROUGE, La. (Feb. 25, 2008) – Freshman Maya Moore (Lawrenceville, Ga.) scored 29 points as the top-ranked University of Connecticut women's basketball team recorded a 74-69 win over No. 6/6 Louisiana State on Monday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge.

UConn ups its mark to 27-1 on the year with the win while LSU dips to 23-4. The loss avenges a  defeat at the hands of the Lady Tigers in last March's Elite Eight, the only LSU win in five all-time meetings between the sides. The loss was LSU's first of the year at the PMAC in 12 home contests.

In one of the bigger games of her promising young career, Moore played the full 40 minutes and poured in 29 points, including a perfect 7-for-7 mark at the foul line. She rounded out the box score with five rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks. Her seven foul shots were crucial as LSU attempted 21 in the game to UConn's 10 but the Huskies converted nine of those 10 shots while the Lady Tigers connected on just 14 of their 21 tries from the charity stripe.

Tina Charles (Jamaica, N.Y.) poured in 18 points for the Huskies while Kaili McLaren (Washington, D.C.) came off of the bench for a double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 12 rebounds while her four assists were one off of the team-lead. All-American Sylvia Fowles did not disappoint leading the Lady Tigers with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Quianna Chaney had 22 points for LSU but the entire rest of the Lady Tiger team combined for just 21 points as LSU saw its 14-game winning streak snapped.

The Huskies enjoyed a 39-25 rebounding edge on the night, helping the team on to victory.

Play was even early on in the contest as the Huskies led by just a basket at 14-12 after a Fowles bucket at 10:48. Moore scored at 10:20 and her basket triggered a 10-0 run for the Huskies who took charge of the contest, going up 24-12 when McLaren scored with 7:30 left in the half. In all, UConn held the Lady Tigers without a field goal until Fowles scored at 5:18. LSU gradually chipped away at the Husky advantage, drawing as close as four points with 1:55 to play in the opening stanza, one which would end with UConn on top by six points at 34-28.

A quick 5-0 UConn burst to open the second half brought the lead back to double figures at 39-28 but LSU would continue to whittle away at its deficit, this time drawing to within a single score at 45-43 with 13:37 to play. UConn responded with an 8-0 run over a two-minute span to make it 53-43 by the 11:34 mark. Charles scored twice in this span while Moore added a triple and Renee Montgomery (St. Albans, W. Va.) sank a free throw. UConn's spurt triggered a 12-2 run by LSU as the Lady Tigers roared back to knot the score at 55-55 with 8:23 remaining.

There would be four ties and four lead changes over the next 3:21 but a pair of free throws by Moore at 5:02 would give UConn a 62-61 lead and a cushion that the Huskies would not relinquish. Moore sank a three on UConn's next possession and a basket by McLaren made it a 7-0 mini-run for the blue and white.

LSU would not go away on its notoriously hostile homecourt as a Chaney triple and a deuce by Allison Hightower cut the UConn lead back down to a single point at 67-66 with 2:33 to play. Ketia Swanier (Columbus, Ga.) responded with a three-pointer on the following possession and UConn would carry that momentum to its 74-69 victory.

The Huskies return to action on Saturday night when they travel to Chicago to face DePaul. CPTV will carry the game live at 8:00 p.m. EST.

Postgame Notes