I put on my Brickyard Club tee, got the lucky "fighting" tree hat out of the closet (where it waits for special occasions), and sat down to watch our women take on the three-time defending national champions.
We started out looking very good. Pretty early on, it seemed like in the first five minutes but it could've been a little longer, all five of our starters had scored. Azella was one of the starting forwards and quickly got in the books. Susan and Kelley were playing the ball like Gary Payton. T'Nae came in for the first time since getting injured versus Oregon and made a quick bucket. Our shots were falling and the amazing thing was that we hadn't taken a three point attempt. I was yelling, and clapping, and fist pumping and feeling very vindicated. For the first time in the tournament we opened a game the way we normally do.
Then things started to go wrong. We went more than five minutes without scoring. And it wasn't just that we were well defended and that's why we missed. The key was a battle zone but we were getting plenty of open looks from mid-range and beyond the three point arc. There were many shots where our players were squared up with nobody in their face. The shots just weren't dropping. And that opened the door for Connecticut to creep back in. Even with the cold streak, however, we led for most of the half. It was only at the end that the Huskies pulled even and then had some spectacular defensive stops. At the end of the half we were down by six.
I muted the volume on the television, went outside to walk around for a bit, and then did some minor apartment cleaning. I'm usually an internal wreck, mentally preparing myself for the worst, when we trail to a team like Connecticut. But I didn't feel that way. I was just irritated. We were clearly the better team. When we were clicking they couldn't stop us. We went for more than five minutes without scoring and they didn't run away. Our defense was great.
There were some small concerns. They were doing a good job on rebounding. We had some minor problems with the full court press and had turned the ball over nine or ten times. Candice was forcing things just a bit too much. But the only reason the score was even as close as it was was because of the points off turnovers and three point shooting of Connecticut. We conceded at least two wide open threes to Turner (and maybe Battle). That's not their shot. We could live with that. Without those threes, and their defense feeding thier offense, and us just missing open shots for an extended period of time we're leading this game by a wide margin going into the locker room. So I felt like we showed up at the beginning and if we could do that for the second half we wouldn't have a problem.
The second half started off with a bang, for us at least. Within three minutes we had tied the game and moved into a back and forth battle. Then our perimeter shots started to fall. And Brooke made some great plays. And Azella got free for a couple of open lay-ups. And Kristin put in some quality minutes. And Candice and Susan and Kelley were all over on the defense. Seb hit her only shot of the game, a three. Susan got a great screen and nailed a three. Candice looked at the defender sagging off her and calmly put up a three. All of a sudden the lead ballooned and that's all she wrote.
Connecticut didn't go down without a fight. They started fouling with way more than a minute left and we made our free throws. They would score a quick basket and we'd make more free throws. The first time we missed a free throw, Azella got the rebound and was fouled. She stepped to the line and made the first so we didn't give up any ground. Finally, the Huskies saw the writing on the wall and we ran most of the clock down. But I think Susan wanted to put one last exclamation point on the whole thing. When the Connecticut player who was guarding her started off the court with more than ten seconds left, she dribbled in for the uncontested lay-up and then ran back on defense by herself to make sure Connecticut didn't try the same thing. It was a nice touch (and if someone had done it to us I would've been hopping mad - funny that).
Just some general observations. They were triple teaming Brooke Smith at times. That really surprised me. She got tied up on a couple of occasions and either made a poor shot or turned the ball over but, for the most part, she handled the pressure. Kelley made some outstanding drives to the basket and either layed it in or kicked it out to the wide open player on the perimeter for an open three pointer. She's always been one of our most clutch players and can legitimately take over a game for short periods of time (at least IMHO). She also went 0-4 from three point range, which happens less frequently than a blue moon. Susan not only shut down Strother (who ended the game with 4 points on 2-8 shooting and went 0-3 from beyond the arc) but she went 4-5 on three pointers herself, scored 14 points, got 3 assists (and even 1 rebound) and was named player of the game. Candice had a much better second half. The drives that looked out of control in the first half resulted in points after the break. And she went 11-12 from the charity stripe down the stretch. We also tightened up on turnovers after the intermission and ended up with 2 less than Connecticut. About the only area where they clearly dominated us was on the offensive glass (and it's scary to think how much more we would've beat them by if they hadn't got those second chances).
So it was a good win. A great win. And exactly what we were expected to do (at least in my mind - if you listened to the talking heads, they all expected a Huskies win). So far we've held serve. Every game after this we are expected to lose (based on seeding). Now is where we show the rest of the country how good we are.
Let the tournament begin!
