Women still rolling, despite injury

If Monday's 88-58 domination of No. 2 North Carolina is any indication, No. 1 UConn (18-0, 4-0 Big East) has the personnel to make do without freshman guard Caroline Doty as the team returns to Big East play tomorrow night to take on Cincinnati (13-5, 3-2) on the road at Fifth-Third Arena (7 p.m., CPTV).

Doty, who re-tore her left ACL last Saturday in the UConn women's basketball team's game against Syracuse, had successful surgery to repair the ligament Thursday at the UConn Medical Center in Farmington. She will sit out the remainder of the season as she recovers from the injury.

Doty averaged 8.6 points and 23.9 minutes per game, while starting every game for the Huskies this year, and her absence leaves a big hole in UConn's already thin rotation.

"Caroline was a great player so that's like a big loss to us, but we could just work at our strengths and build up our weaknesses," said sophomore guard Lorin Dixon, who got the start in place of Doty in Monday's win.

In particular, coach Geno Auriemma has singled out guards Kalana Greene and Tiffany Hayes, saying both will have to continue to increase their roles in Doty's absence.

Greene, a redshirt junior who has started all 18 games for UConn this year, is averaging 7.7 points per game in 21.3 minutes per game after coming off an ACL tear of her own that cut her 2007-2008 season short. In the win over UNC, Greene had 15 points in 33 minutes, both season highs.

Auriemma said that the amount of minutes that Greene plays from here on out will be determined by her confidence level during the upcoming games.

"She brings that midrange game that, you know, is really important," Auriemma said. "And when she's concentrating on that, attacking the basket, that pull-up jump shot of hers, it makes defenses have to prepare not just to come running out hard at the 3-pointers, and not pack it in on the block. They've gotta now defend something different."

Hayes, a freshman who has come off the bench all 18 games, is averaging 6.4 points and 20.2 minutes per game. Hayes struggled in the UNC game and Auriemma pulled her early, choosing to bench her for most of the game. She finished with no points in only five minutes.

While Greene, a veteran, has a well-established role on the team, Auriemma said that Hayes is still trying to work out her own. Because of that she is going to have some bumps along the way. Hayes said she understood and accepted her limited role in the North Carolina win and that she's ready to rebound from the performance next chance she gets.

"It didn't really affect me because of the fact that I know that he knows what he's doing," Hayes said. "Basically I've taken it as 'OK, this is not the game for me, everybody else is hot, but I'm not.'"

Auriemma said that he felt Hayes, who is roommates with Doty, was noticeably bothered by Doty's absence from the lineup in the days following her ACL tear against Syracuse.

Since then, Hayes said Doty told her not to dwell on the negatives and to go out and play hard in her place.

"I'm definitely getting back into it, especially knowing that she's getting better," Hayes said.

Also in the mix in the guard rotation will be Dixon, who did not disappoint in her first start of the season, finishing the UNC game with a career-high 14 points and eight rebounds, to go along with season-high six assists in 34 minutes.

Dixon said that she really enjoyed playing in the up-tempo atmosphere of the North Carolina game, which allowed her to use her speed to her advantage.

"That was a lot of fun to play against," Dixon said. "Everybody honestly just was upbeat and just ready, so I mean when we just play like that all together I feel like everybody's having a good time out there."

Dixon said Auriemma hadn't come up to her where she will fit into the rotation in future games, and that she isn't preoccupied with whether or not she stays in the starting lineup.

"This is a great team, so anybody could start," Dixon said. "But that's not something I think about. Basically it's just when you're in the game, just do what you're good at, do what you're best at."