Huskies make history at Palestra

Sometimes the matchups just flat out aren't fair.

"That's why they're the defending national champions," Saint Joseph's coach Cindy Griffin said after her team fell to No. 1 Connecticut, 87-34, at the Palestra on Sunday. The loss was the largest margin in the history of Hawks women's basketball.

The Huskies charged ahead on a fast break with nearly every basket, showing their clear athletic superiority with every play.

But that was only half of it -- they executed tenacious defense and a scripted game plan that did not allow St. Joe's to get shot attempts.

When the Hawks got an open shot at the basket, it was usually a three-point attempt with fewer than five seconds remaining on the shot clock. St. Joe's shot 11-for-46 on the game with team highs of seven points each coming from Maura McBryan and Elizabeth Mohan.

Barbara Turner and Diana Taurasi led the way for Connecticut with 19 and 18 points, respectively. Taurasi, a favorite for the Naismith Award, lived up to her billing, seeming to be unstoppable on both ends of the floor -- when she touched the ball she either scored or provided a pass that led directly to a shot attempt.

The Huskies did not dominate the entire game, however. Connecticut gave St. Joseph's every opportunity to stay close by missing a series of easy layups during the first 10 minutes of the game.

"It seemed like it was 12-6 forever," said UConn coach Geno Auriemma, a native Philadelphian, who graduated from West Chester University.

During a 20-second timeout halfway through the half, however, Taurasi took the reins of the team, getting in the face of everyone on the floor -- Auriemma didn't speak during the timeout. The superstar had enough. And the Huskies responded.

Connecticut ended the half on a 13-2 run, capped by Ashley Battle's reverse layup as time expired.

In the second half, it was more of the same. The Huskies went 7-from-7 from behind the arc and shot 67.9 percent overall during the second half, as the defending champs cruised to victory in front of 6,143 vocal fans, most of whom cheered on UConn.

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