HARTFORD - After receiving a bye for the first two rounds of the Big East Women's Basketball Championship, top-seeded UConn picked up right where it left off in the regular season, ousting No. 8 seed South Florida 79-42 in quarterfinal action Sunday at the XL Center in front of a crowd of 9,270. The Huskies will face No. 4 seed Villanova Monday night in the tournament semifinals.
Junior guard Kalana Greene led all scorers with 20 points for the Huskies (31-0, 17-0 Big East), 18 of which came in the first half, mostly from layups and on fastbreak plays. Forward and recently crowned Big East Player of the Year Maya Moore added 18 points and 14 rebounds, while center Tina Charles added 15 points and eight rebounds. South Florida Reserve guard Janae Stokes finished with a team-high 15 points for the Bulls (22-10, 8-9), all of which came on 3-pointers.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma was worried that the longer layoff between games - UConn hadn't played since last Monday - might cause his team to come out sluggish. That was far from the case, as the Huskies jumped out to a 20-1 run in the game's first eight minutes. The Huskies finished the first half with a tournament-record 37-point advantage, leading 47-10. This was thanks in large part to the defense, which held USF to 11.1 percent shooting (3-for-27) in the half.
"We came out, and I thought we played as well as we've played at any time this year over the first 20 minutes at both ends of the floor, in every area," Auriemma said.
The Huskies received a scare in the first half, when starting guard Tiffany Hayes had to be taken off the court after being knocked down by Bulls guard Jasmine Wynne, who ran into her hard on a fastbreak play. After lying on the ground for a minute, Hayes was able to walk off the court under her own power and was taken back to the training room. Hayes would return to the game and start the second half, finishing the game with five points and four assists.
USF, which was held to a season-low 10 points in the first half, did not make a field goal until 10 minutes and 53 seconds into the game, when Bulls forward Porche Grant hit a layup that rattled in. UConn held the Bulls without a field goal for the next five minutes until Stokes hit the first of her game-high five 3-pointers.
"At least for us, we made some shots in the second half to balance that half a little bit," said USF coach Jose Fernandez. "Those first 20 minutes, they challenged, they defended, they rebounded, especially with not playing in a week. Give credit to them."
After being outrebounded in their previous two games, Auriemma told his players to step up their rebounding. The Huskies responded, and outrebounded the Bulls by a Big East Championship-record 32 boards, 51-to-19. The Bulls were only allowed two offensive rebounds all game.
Conversely, the Huskies grabbed 18 off the offensive glass, led by Greene, who came down with four. The rebounding advantage helped UConn to a 21-0 advantage in second-chance points.
"You can't win a lot of games if you get out-rebounded and the other team is getting shots and you aren't getting second shots," Greene said. "I think tonight that was a big focus and the rest of the tournament the focu is going to be on defending and rebounding."
After struggling to get shots off inside in the first half, the Bulls switched to a more successful perimeter attack in the second half as Auriemma switched UConn to a zone defense to help rest the players' legs. After shooting 1-for-9 from beyond the arc in the first half, the Bulls shot 8-for-14 from 3-point range in the second half.
Up next for the Huskies is a Villanova team that will force UConn to play at a much slower pace than they did Sunday against USF. The Wildcats defeated No. 5 seed Notre Dame Sunday afternoon behind a strong performance from forward Laura Kurz. The Huskies defeated the Wildcats 74-47 at Gampel Pavilion on Feb. 24.
"It really tests your ability to grind it out because you know you can't speed up the game [against Villanova]," Auriemma said.
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