Women's Hoops Falls To No. 1 Connecticut, 81-60
Feb 19, 2003
By JEFF PRICE
Associated Press Writer
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) – Diana Taurasi scored 19 points as No. 1Connecticut extended its women’s NCAA-record winning streak to 64 games with a81-60 win over Miami on Wednesday night.
UConn (25-0, 12-0 Big East) used a 30-4 run that extended into the secondhalf to erase an early eight-point deficit. The deficit matched the largest theHuskies have faced at any point during the winning streak.
Only Tennessee earlier this season managed to put Connecticut in aneight-point hole during the winning streak. UConn trailed that game 54-46 inthe second half before winning 63-62 in overtime Jan. 4.
Maria Conlon added 15 points for the Huskies.
Tamara James led Miami (14-9, 6-6) with 19 points. Meghan Saake added 12 andShaquana Wilkins had 14 rebounds for the Hurricanes, who have lost four oftheir last five.
Taurasi, who leads the Huskies in scoring, had eight consecutive points and14 overall during the run, in which UConn was 12-of-17 from the field.
Taurasi finished 5-of-9 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free throw linein leading the Huskies to their 31st straight win against Big East opponentsand 45th straight during Big East regular-season and tournament games.
UConn holds the women’s record for consecutive wins and is 24 victories shyof tying the men’s record of 88 set by UCLA from 1971-74. UConn has not lostsince a 90-75 loss to eventual champion Notre Dame in the 2001 Final Four.
UConn has won 17 straight over Miami since a 69-51 loss in Coral Gables in1993.
The Hurricanes used an aggressive man-to-man defense to force 13 UConnturnovers and keep the game close early.
Miami led the Huskies 25-18 with 7:04 left in the first half. James, theleading freshman scorer among all Division I women, scored 14 points in thefirst half.
But UConn quickly countered with the big run to take control of the game.Miami shot just 1-of-14 from the field and committed eight turnovers during the11-minute stretch.
The Huskies led 37-29 at halftime and have not trailed at halftime duringthe streak.
