Turner can carry the load

Call this the end of the trilogy.

The regular season was the first film - a shaky plot with inexperienced actors, but all the ingredients in place for a great story. The Big East Tournament was the second film - all the same actors from the first film, but suddenly a different script and a rousing success. Now it's up for Huskies to decide whether the last film - the NCAA Tournament - will build on the success of the second or come short of so many fans' high expectations.

The final film opens Sunday at 7 p.m. as the Huskies take on Ivy League champion Dartmouth at Gampel Pavilion.

The No. 10 Huskies (23-7) earned a No. 3 seed in the Kansas City regional in large part due to their impressive showing in the Big East Tournament. While the team was just the No. 3 seed in the Big East Tournament, they defeated both No. 2 seed Notre Dame and No. 1 seed Rutgers on their way to the conference title.

Maybe the biggest thing the Huskies learned in the conference tournament was Barbara Turner can carry the team. She may have been battered and bruised - at one point limping off the court with an apparent ankle injury - but Turner pulled her best Willis Reed impersonation to capture the Big East Tournament's Most Outstanding Player award. That's all in the past though now.

"I'm grateful for what I did in the Big East Tournament, but I'm hoping to have that carry on to the NCAA Tournament," Turner said. "At this point, [our record is] 0-0. You really can't look at any past records or anything like that. It's only how you approach things and do things now that matters."

And what comes now is Dartmouth. The Big Green are making their fifth NCAA Tournament appearance this year. In order to make the tournament this season Dartmouth (17-10) had to defeat Harvard in a one-game tiebreaker game to decide the Ivy League title. The Ivy League is the only conference in the nation that still has no conference tournament at the conclusion of the regular season.

As an Ivy League school, Dartmouth doesn't offer athletic scholarships, but they are able to attract players from all over the country with academics as an incentive. There are players on the team from Texas to Florida to Idaho.

Six-foot-3 center Elise Morrison is the only player on the team above 6-foot, but she is a very talented sophomore. Morrison was a highly recruited player out of high school, as she was a Street and Smith's Honorable Mention All-American and the No. 28 player in the country as a senior in high school according to All Girls Sports - a college recruiting service.

Morrison was the overwhelming choice as Ivy League Rookie of the Year last season, scoring 17.6 points per game. Her average has come down this season to 15.9 points per game, but she also adds 8.9 rebounds per game. Morrison had 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 10 rebounds in the tiebreaker game against Harvard.

Jeannie Cullen, Ashley Taylor and Angie Soriaga all average double-digit scoring per game as well.

Perhaps UConn's toughest challenge will be in keeping focused on taking the tournament one game at a time. Dartmouth will not get much attention from those analyzing the Kansas City region. With Stanford, the AP No. 1, but a No. 2 seed in the region, and Michigan State, who already hold a victory over UConn this season, both in the bracket they have garnered much of the focus for future matchups.

While the fans may look ahead, the players are trying not to. "I'm not thinking about Michigan State," Turner said. "We've got Dartmouth to play first so I'm thinking about Dartmouth."

Ever the linguist, coach Geno Auriemma may have summed it up best. "Every year you have to beat somebody really good," Auriemma said. "It's just a matter of who they are and where do you play them. That's why I don't get too caught up in what seed we are."

UConn-Dartmouth will be televised on ESPN2, as will the Temple-Louisiana Tech game at noon and Florida State-Richmond following the UConn game at approximately 9:30 p.m. The eagerly anticipated, not to mention highly charged, Rutgers-Hartford game will be televised on ESPN at approximately 2:30 p.m. All four games will be held at Gampel Pavilion.