UConn Shows Resolve, if Not Star Power

[joeybee12]

HARTFORD — So this is what it is like for Connecticut women’s basketball when the second-ranked Huskies must climb a mountain instead of starting at the preseason summit.

Maya Moore is gone, but a productive freshman forward named Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis is wearing her No. 23 jersey. And UConn’s ruthless determination is on permanent scholarship, as evidenced in Monday’s gritty 68-58 victory against third-ranked Stanford.

It was a game of Final Four intensity, if not quality, early in the season, another resolute encounter in a rivalry that has now supplanted UConn-Tennessee as the most riveting in N.C.A.A. women’s basketball.

The first four-plus minutes were wild, hurried, scoreless. Not until 14 ½ minutes remained in the game did UConn get a basket by someone other than Mosqueda-Lewis (25 points) or guard Bria Hartley (19 points). But the Huskies turned the tide their way, pressing Stanford’s bigger lineup, strangling it with double-teams, and using relentless speed and hustle to counter superior size.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/sports/ncaabasketball/uconn-women-use-sharp-defense-to-defeat-stanford.html?_r=1&hpw