Tina Charles goes for a jump shot in a Huskies 103-37 victory over Team SRP Wednesday night in Hartford.

Flexing their muscles

Women's basketball dominates SRP in last exhibition game

By: Brittany Perotti

Posted: 11/13/08

Members of the Sports Resource Program came out in baby blue jerseys, practicing their jump shots and free throws before the game. Most people had never seen these players before. Even head coach Geno Auriemma said he did not know the roster when the game was initially scheduled.
But it did not take the Huskies long to figure Team SRP out, as the women's basketball team won 103-37 Wednesday night at the XL Center.
"You don't want to blow a team out," said Renee Montgomery. "You don't want to try to do that, but you want to try to execute as best as you can, you know, and just do what we're capable of doing."
Ten minutes into the game, Team SRP was down by 18, forcing coach Roy Gerber to call a time out to regroup. They came back with a quick basket and a free throw. But it did not last for long.
In fact, just four minutes later, his team was down by 24.
Still, he remained encouraging for his players.
"That's what I'm talking about; now play defense," he shouted across the court, after Shamika Jackson sank a jump shot with less than three minutes left in the first half.
"Box out. Don't get lazy, come on."
At halftime, UConn was up by 31. But that did not mean the team was satisfied with its performance. There were times when they missed easy layups or gave the ball away.
Auriemma just shook his head. Or he would sit down and stare.
The bench, too, put their heads in their hands in disbelief.
"I think in the first half, I don't think it was Connecticut basketball," said Tina Charles. "Shea Ralph, she had said that we look like every other team, you know, and we just want to go out and play Connecticut basketball. She's not used to seeing us look like every other team, being she was a Connecticut player."
Montgomery echoed those thoughts.
"It's a constant battle to make sure that you do all the little things and the first half we didn't and we see how it looks," she said. "And we don't want to look like that."
So when the Huskies came back out on the floor, they played with energy, moving the ball around the floor.
Auriemma credited Maya Moore with the turnaround in the second half.
Fighting off Johnell Burts, Moore dribbled behind her back, then dished it to Montgomery for an easy layup. Minutes later, she made a running save, throwing the ball around her back and into Kalana Greene, who threw it down court to Charles for another easy layup.
The crowd was on its feet. So was the UConn bench.
"I think that's what makes her unique, in that the stretches she had in the second half had nothing to do with how many points she scored," Auriemma said. "And yet, she was the dominant player on the floor.
"I think sometimes players that can score that easily and are used to scoring points that easily will just kind of rely on that and say 'that's just my thing'. But with Maya, it's so much more than that and I think that's what separates her from all the other really good players in America."
Aside from working on getting the energy up, Wednesday night was another chance for Auriemma to rotate his lineups, trying to find the right pieces for an effective all-around game.
At one point in the first half, he had Caroline Doty, Tiffany Hayes and Lorin Dixon all in. It seemed to be a tryout, a chance to see which guard should gain that coveted starting spot when the regular season starts Sunday.
Auriemma said that the team had not had that many ball handlers on the court at the same time in a while.
And by the end of the night, six players - Hayes, Doty, Montgomery, Charles, Moore, and Greene - were in double digits for points. Charles tacked on 11 rebounds.
It was the end of their exhibition run. And they could not be more ready for it to be done.
"I think we're really anxious and biting our fingers and everything, just wanting to start on Sunday," Charles said. "We just can't wait."

Brittany.Perotti@UConn.edu