Women's Hoops Guru

By Mel Greenberg

STORRS, Conn. -- Despite three starters sidelined with injuries, two of which are lost for the season, top-ranked Connecticut displayed the kind of depth in another area Monday night against No. 3 North Carolina that had existed until recently on a roster that had been overwhelming well-respected programs.

The Huskies dug deep into their storied basketball soul to rally from an 11-point halftime deficit and overcome a strong challenge from the Tar Heels, 82-71, Monday night, in a nationally-televised intersectional matchup at Gampel Pavilion.

Fortune tellers were not on the scene here Monday nght to predict whether the comeback was an omen indictating coach Geno Auriemma's battered squad can win a sixth NCAA title.

But for now, what can be said of the Huskies (18-0), the last unbeaten Division I squad, is they will likely retain their weekly No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press women's poll for at least a while longer.

"I think a lot of us are on the same page as far as feeling that we have been tested more than I think most teams this year, just as far as defining who we are," Connecticut freshman Maya Moore said afterwards

"With each starter than we lost we had to prove again to ourselves, I think more than anything, that we are still the best team in the country," the nation's top recruit added. "This was another game just like that."

It was even more.

With the annual womano-womano showdown between Connecticut and Tennessee removed as the season's top attraction by Volunteers coach Pat Summitt, Monday night's clash was a worthy replacement, especially with North Carolina's only previous loss being a narrow setback to Tennessee.

Even when the Huskies were a healthy bunch not too long ago, they looked to UNC (17-2) as a major hurdle on the road to more glory.

Because of early season matchups of major powers and some unforeseen upsets, the race for the top four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament appears to have been reduced to five contenders.

Tennessee, (16-1) barring a collapse, seems solid to gain one of the prized berths. Connecticut was in the same position before knee injuries struck Kalana Greene in December and Mel Thomas last week at Syracuse. The Huskies have been weakened further, depth-wise, in recent games while Brittany Hunter nurses a sore knee. Maryland (22-1) is also inside the loop as is Rutgers (15-2) because of success on strong schedules.

But North Carolina has been coming up fast on the outside and with Monday night's game against the Huskies and Saturday afternoon's tilt in Chapel Hill against Atlantic Coast Conference-rival Maryland, the Tar Heels were poised to make things closer.

In fact, when North Carolina took an 8-0 lead in the opening minutes here against the Huskies, playing almost perfect basketball, the thought quickly occurred that if this continues, it could be that a Big East title game between Rutgers and Connecticut might also determine the fourth No. 1 seed.

"It was like a heavyweight fight," Auriemma said of the opening burst by the opposition. "After the ref broke us up, we got hit in the face."

Connecticut eventually settled down, but then drifted behind to a 44-37 deficit at the half.

However, UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell was not totally confident with her team's advantage.

"I didn't want us to relax because at the beginning of the game, we made some shots that gave us security, but I knew the second half Connecticut would come out very intense," Hatchell sad. "They did that and were very aggressive and very physical and I think we let it bother us a little bit and we don't usually do that."

Connecticut junior Renee Montgomery, who scored a game-high 26 points in her new role as a shooting guard, spoke of the resolve of her teammates and herself.

"We refused to lose, no matter what the score was, we had to play hard and we refused to lose," Montgomery said. "We had to do everything right. We had to make sure they got one shot and that''s it. We knew we had to rebound, we knew we had to get easy buckets in transition and we had to execute. I think everyone came with the mindset that we know what we need to do and we have to get it done."

The counterpunch from the Huskies began right at the outset of the final period.

With Montgomery leading the charge along with strong inside play from Tina Charles and Charde Houston, the Huskies broke on a 15-3 run to take a 48-47 lead on Montgomery's three-pointer with 15:15 left in the game.

"I think that was huge," Montgomery said. The whole first half we were trying to catch up and once we evened it out with them we were like `ok, it's a whole new ball game now."

Connecticut was relentless, but the Tar Heels took a while to fade, leading 69-65 with 5:29 to play.

Then the Huskies really toughened, defensively, forcing turnovers and closing out with a 17-2 run.

"We need to execute better down the stretch and compete when other teams go on runs," North Carolina's LaToya Pringle said of the closing minutes. "I think a lot of our team put our heads down when they eventually took the lead. We need to learn that basketball is a game of runs and when your opponent makes a run you have to respond."

That's something the Tar Heels failed to do in the second half against Tennessee last season when they fell to the Volunteers in one of the NCAA national semifinal games in Cleveland.

Auriemma, meanwhile, could only marvel the way his squad finished out against the Tar Heels.

"We wanted to make the game fast-paced, but only from defense-to-offense on our part, not up-and-down continuously," Auriemma said. "I thought we finally got it going the way I thought we could get it going.

"I don't think you can say enough about the way our (players) responded - we're up and then we gave it back to them. We thought we had the game won, probably, and then they came back and took a four-point lead," he continued.

"And for us to come back and do that, running away at the end, that's probably something that will help this team down the road probably more than anything else. Some individuals had a chance to do some things tonight that they thought they were able to do, but weren't sure they were able to do -Charde, Tina, in particular. I was really happy for them because they were the two I was concerned about the most coming into the game."

Charles matched a career-high 19 rebounds, 11 on the offensive end, to go with her 15 points, and Houston scored all 15 of her points in the second half. Moore had 19 points.

Pringle led UNC, scoring 30 points, and Heather Claytor and Jessica Breeland each scored 12 points. Rashanda McCants added 10 points, while Erlana Larkins grabbed 11 rebounds.

Larkins spoke of the post defense Charles and Houston used against her in the second half.

"It's nothing that I haven't experienced before, but I think it was for us as a team," Larkins said. "They did a great job of coming in to double team and we did a great job of standing. I remember, there were several times when I got the ball and I couldn't find anyone open and since I had no dribble I had to turn and throw the ball hoping someone would get it. I think they did a great job of taking me away and forcing other players to do things."

Connecticut next returns its Big East wars, visiting No. 15 Notre Dame (13-3) Sunday night. Then it's back home to host South Florida and Providence before traveling to the Rutgers, for the first of the two regular season encounters with the Scarlet Knights.

-- Mel