{"id":57262,"date":"2012-03-25T22:35:22","date_gmt":"2012-03-26T02:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=57262"},"modified":"2012-03-26T16:20:57","modified_gmt":"2012-03-26T20:20:57","slug":"huskies-turn-back-penn-state-to-advance-in-ncaa-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/03\/huskies-turn-back-penn-state-to-advance-in-ncaa-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"Huskies Turn Back Penn State to Advance in NCAA Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sophomore<\/a>
Sophomore Bria Hartley '14 (CLAS) runs down a ball after a steal during the Huskies' NCAA Tournament win over Penn State in the Sweet Sixteen. (Bob Stowell\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the early part of this basketball season, Geno Auriemma has not been certain just what kind of team the Huskies would become. The team was young \u2013 relying primarily on freshmen and sophomores who were still learning the discipline and team play expected from those wearing a UConn jersey.<\/p>\n

In the 36th game of the season, an emphatic 77-59 win over Penn State in the NCAA Tournament in Kingston, R.I., that places the No. 1 seed Huskies one game from its fifth straight Final Four, Auriemma said his team is where he wants it to be. On Tuesday at 7 p.m. the Huskies will face No. 2 seed Kentucky, which defeated Gonzaga 79-62.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to make sure this was a team thing, rather than looking around for somebody to have a big night,\u201d he said, again recalling the team\u2019s struggle to find itself this season. \u201c[We had to] play great defense and execute offensively. That\u2019s exactly what it was. The stat sheet tells some of it, but this was one of the more complete games we\u2019ve played in a while. It couldn\u2019t come at a better time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Caroline<\/a>
Caroline Doty '13 (CLAS) and Bria Hartley '14 (CLAS) celebrate the Huskies '77-59 NCAA Tournament win over Penn State Sunday afternoon at the Ryan Center in Kingston, R.I. (Bob Stowell\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What the box score showed was the Huskies shooting 50 percent from the field, with five players scoring in double figures, led by sophomore Bria Hartley \u201914 (CLAS) with 20 points, and junior Kelly Faris \u201913 (ED) scoring 15. It also showed Connecticut again flexing its defensive muscle, holding the Lady Lions to 32.3 percent shooting, including holding junior center Nikki Greene scoreless after getting her in early foul trouble in the first half.<\/p>\n

The Huskies opened the game with a 12-2 run and held Penn State scoreless for two long periods during the game, never getting closer than five points in the first half, and then extended their lead to as many as 28 points with just over six minutes remaining in the game.<\/p>\n

The UConn offensive balance included Tiffany Hayes \u201912 (CLAS) with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals, and freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis with 12 points and 11 rebounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got a lot of weapons and they play very well together,\u201d said Penn State head coach Coquese Washington. \u201cThey move well without the ball, and they\u2019re just a pretty tough team. Connecticut played like a team that had people that played in a Sweet 16 and a Final Four. I think we played too fast. We shot a lot of quick shots and didn\u2019t show enough patience on the offensive end.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the second consecutive game, Faris\u2019s value to the Huskies was evident not just in a steady contribution in all parts of the game showing up in the box score, but visibly in her scoring, hitting two consecutive baskets to give UConn a 26-point lead in the second half.<\/p>\n

But it was a defensive sequence by Faris that got the crowd of partisan Huskies fans on their feet at the Ryan Center on the University of Rhode Island campus. Faris blocked a shot by Penn State\u2019s leading scorer, Maggie Lucas, which was tipped to Caroline Doty \u201913 (CLAS), who in turn found Faris streaking toward the UConn basket, where she was fouled by a Lady Lion defender.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stood at the other end of the court and I was in awe,\u201d said center Stefanie Dolson \u201915 (CLAS), who had 10 points and 5 rebounds, about Faris\u2019s block. \u201cYou know she\u2019s going give you her best every night and work as hard as she can. Tonight was no exception. She came out and just killed it. She made play after play, and never stopped working offensively and defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to scoring 15 points, Faris had 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably get more asked questions about Kelly having to do with what she can\u2019t do,\u201d Auriemma said when asked about Faris\u2019s effort after the game. \u201cShe\u2019s not really a guard. She\u2019s not really a post player. Kelly\u2019s day usually revolves around what\u2019s the focus of the other team. Kelly\u2019s the odd man out. What they don\u2019t know is that Kelly makes so many plays that maybe don\u2019t reflect on her ability to score, but they help our team score. The best thing I can say about Kelly \u2013 and I\u2019ve said his to other coaches and others in Connecticut \u2013 is that last year when we lost to Notre Dame [in the Final Four], it was the first time she lost in the postseason since eighth grade. The kid has lost one game in seven years in the postseason. I love having guys like that on our team. She finds things to do to help our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Senior<\/a>
Senior Tiffany Hayes '12 (CLAS) leads the fast break during the Huskies' 77-59 NCAA Tournament win at the Ryan Center in Kingston, R.I. (Bob Stowell\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Auriemma said the Huskies now have a better understanding of where each member of the team fits into the offensive flow, after some adjustments were made just before the Big East Tournament in early March.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re finding a certain comfort level with each other that is really helping us right now,\u201d he said. \u201cIt made all the difference in the world. People started to see where their shots were going to come from on a regular basis. People are taking shots within the offense, and nobody\u2019s forcing anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Hartley: \u201cWe were able to move the ball around really well tonight. You didn\u2019t know where our next shot was coming from \u2013someone coming off a screen; Stef getting a layup inside; someone getting a three outside. It was all the different variations. That\u2019s hard to defend when you have five players on the court who can score. It\u2019s tough for teams to guard us.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Huskies will face No. 2 seed Kentucky in an ‘Elite Eight’ match up on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":57276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-57262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-05 21:48:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57262"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57358,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57262\/revisions\/57358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/57276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57262"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=57262"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=57262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}