Unbeaten UConn women run past St. Joe's

STORRS, Conn. - Four St. Joseph's players scored in double figures Tuesday night, but it wasn't enough to get the ninth-seeded Hawks past mighty Connecticut.

St. Joseph's fell, 91-52, to No. 1 UConn in the second round of the NCAA women's basketball tournament at Gampel Pavilion.

"We played really strong today," said Hawks coach Cindy Griffin, "and I can say that these kids left everything out on the floor."

Breanna Stewart scored 21 points and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Bria Hartley had 20 apiece for UConn, which improved to 36-0.

The Hawks (23-10) never led and quickly found themselves in a big hole. Stefanie Dolson opened the scoring for the Huskies just seven seconds in and within the first 2 minutes, 15 seconds, the lead had grown to 10-0. From there, St. Joseph's never got within eight points.

"They have a great team and it is very, very difficult" to play the Huskies, said guard Erin Shields, who scored 12 points for the Hawks. "You don't realize. You go through the [scouting report] 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."

UConn dominated the rebounding battle, 46-23, including 17 offensive boards that the Huskies turned into 26 second-chance points.

"They are really strong, tall, big," said Hawks forward Ilze Gotfrida, who scored 10 points. "I mean, some of us are big, too, but they are just tall and it's really hard. We did our best. We tried."

Sarah Fairbanks scored 12 points and Natasha Cloud 10 for the Hawks.

For St. Joseph's, the loss ended a season that saw its first NCAA tournament victory since 2000.

"To win an NCAA tournament game, especially for the program, was a huge accomplishment," Shields said. "And to even get there with an at-large bid was a huge accomplishment once again for our program, for our school. . . . We don't have any regrets. . . . We're happy with what we've accomplished this year."