2008 Woodie Awards
'Horns Get Hooked
Women's Basketball: Huskies Beat Longhorns, Head To Sweet Sixteen
Kevin Meacham
Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: Sports
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So it was for top-seeded UConn, which buried No. 8 seed Texas, 89-55, in the second round of the NCAA tournament at the Arena at Harbor Yard Tuesday.
With the win, the Huskies (34-1) advance to the Greensboro, N.C., Regional semifinals, where they will play No. 5 seed Old Dominion Sunday.
UConn jumped out to a 13-2 lead before the fans, or Texas coach Gail Goestenkors, could get settled in their chairs.
"They didn't have a weakness," Goestenkors said. "They hit the outside shot, they hit the 3, pull-up jumpers, transition game was excellent. They dominated the boards and played great team basketball. Congratulations to them."
"We talked about it in the locker room," said UConn coach Geno Auriemma. "We can't worry about what they do. What we can do is worry about how we pick up on defense, get out in transition and force the other team to respond. We really did better than I thought we'd do."
Then, Maya Moore started to get involved. The freshman hit four consecutive 3s over 2:33 - and had a thunderous block on a Texas fast-break- as part of a trademark UConn offensive outburst. The Huskies made 13 of their first 18 shots and totaled 31 points nine minutes into the game.
"It was huge," said guard Renee Montgomery, who had 17 points on 7-for-12 shooting. "We wanted to come out strong and set the tempo. We wanted to be aggressive."
The rest of the game was a mere formality.
Moore led the Huskies- who advanced to the Sweet 16 for the 15th consecutive year- with 24 points, tying the freshman record for points in an NCAA tournament game set by Diana Taurasi.
"I don't keep track of that stuff," Moore said. "That's the first time I heard about that. [It's all about] my role on the team, and scoring points."
Moore also had a game-high 12 rebounds, marking her 10th double-double this season. The freshman from Lawrenceville, Ga., is one double-double shy of tying the Big East and UConn record, set by Tina Charles last season.
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