St. Joe's women fall to unbeaten UConn

STORRS, Conn. - Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis scored the third triple-double in UConn history, leading the Huskies to a 91-52 win over Saint Joseph's in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Gampel Pavilion last night in front of a crowd of 4,245.

Hawks senior Erin Shields and sophomore Sarah Fairbanks finished with 12 points each in the defeat, while junior Natasha Cloud and senior Ilze Gotfrida contributed 10 points apiece.

The defending national champion Huskies (36-0) received 20 points, 10 boards and 10 assists from Mosqueda-Lewis in 31 minutes.

SJU, concluding its campaign 23-10, were competing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.

"We had a fabulous year," said Hawks coach Cindy Griffin. "We had a lot of resolve. This team is led by Erin and Natasha, and you can't find two better competitors that you can depend on every day, not just on game day, but in practice, and I believe that maximized who we were this year."

UConn fired out to an 8-0 lead following a three-pointer by Mosqueda-Lewis, after only 1:38 of elapsed action; prompting Griffin to utilize her first timeout.

Fairbanks got the Hawks on the board 60 seconds later, but the Huskies quickly accelerated their vaunted offense, finding success from the three-point range on the way to a 29-14 run.

"We had a matchup situation. Erin had the discipline to chase [Mosqueda-Lewis] around and guard the three, but we knew we were going to be exposed with the size, and we were," Griffin said.

The Hawks were held to 29.4 percent from the floor in the first half, well below their season average of 43.6.

Mosqueda-Lewis had 13 points in the first half for UConn, while Breanna Stewart (21 overall) and Stefanie Dorson (17) added 11 each.

UConn's 24-point intermission lead lengthened when the home team went on a 15-2 run early in the second half.

"Their defense, for us - it was hard because we had to focus on our outside shot and those weren't falling,'' said Cloud, who set the Hawks' all-time assist record. "I thought we ran our offense well, and we were getting whatever shots we wanted to, they just weren't falling for us.''

The defending national champions similarly overwhelmed Prairie View A&M, 87-44, in the opening round of the tournament.

The last meeting between the Hawks and Huskies resulted in a 87-34 win by UConn at the Palestra on Dec. 21, 2003.

St. Joe's was 22-for-63 from the field, 34.9 percent; UConn was 35-for-63, 55.6 percent.

"They are so difficult to guard," Shields said of the defensive challenge faced by the Hawks. "You're hoping that they're missing some shots and you can put pressure on them and defend. You go through the scout and watch them on film and think, 'How hard can it be?' It's hard. We haven't played that level of team this year, because they are at a different level than everyone else."

The 52 points marked the Hawks' lowest offensive output of the season; they scored 53 in a home loss to Fordham.

Shields, owner of the career record for games played at St. Joe's (129), moved into 15th place on the Hawks' list for points in a single season with 492.

In the game's waning moments, UConn coach Geno Auriemma called a timeout to allow Shields to get her moment, in what was her final collegiate contest.

"It's been a great weekend and it's been a great season," she said. "I was wondering after the game why I wasn't crying because it's my last game, and I looked back and I realized we gave it our best shot.

"That's what I was most proud of. Obviously, we would have wanted the game to turn out differently, but we're happy with what we accomplished this year."