HARTFORD, Conn. – With 9:30 left in the Big East tournament quarterfinal matchup between Syracuse and Connecticut, Ashley Battle missed a 3-pointer for the Huskies. Wilnett Crockett snatched the rebound and converted an uncontested lay-up.

Crockett’s bucket was two of UConn’s 40 points in the paint and gave the Huskies a commanding lead en route to an 82-56 win over the Orange on Sunday night at the Hartford Civic Center.

‘We went out to win and compete,’ said Syracuse head coach Keith Cieplicki. ‘They pounded us inside and increased the tempo faster than what we can play at.’

SU sustained the initial blow on UConn’s home court. It was 13-10 after a Jessica Richter 3-pointer from the corner, but the Huskies proceeded on a 15-2 run, and the Orange was never within striking distance again.

Barbara Turner led the No. 14 Huskies with 16 points while Mel Thomas and Jessica Moore had 14 points apiece. Turner and Moore established themselves in the paint early and often and took away SU’s post-game of Chineze Nwagbo and Vaida Sipaviciute. Nwagbo, fresh off a 19-point, 13-rebound outburst Saturday against Georgetown, scored 11 points on 5-of-13 shooting. She picked up two fouls in the game’s first 40 seconds but was not relegated to the bench, playing 29 minutes in the game.

But her presence proved to be a non-factor as the 11th-seeded Orange ran into an assortment of problems against the third-seeded Huskies. SU (13-16, 4-12 Big East) struggled to get the ball inbounds, turned the ball over against the UConn press and continued to allow lay-ups to Turner in particular.

‘I thought we came out like we wanted to,’ Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma said. ‘We had a chance to use a lot of people that were able to contribute, which was what we wanted to do.’

The Orange kept the game respectable in the first half, sparked by the play of Tracy Harbut, who played somewhat of a point forward to help her team beat the Huskie pressure. She scored a career-high 13 points and had five assists, while trying to contain Turner down low on the defensive end. Freshman Amanda Adamson scored 13 points and Rochelle Coleman had 10, giving SU four players in double-figure scoring.

But it was not enough to chip away at the lead. SU cut the deficit to 28-15 after an Adamson 3-pointer, but UConn (21-7, 13-3) closed with a variety of lay-ups and built on its 45-27 halftime cushion with a 9-2 run to start the second half.

‘We had a couple of shots but instead of it maybe being nine, it’s 17,’ Cieplicki said. ‘That was the difference. Despite that, I thought our effort was great.’

Auriemma said Sunday’s game was not his team’s A-game and he was not upset with Syracuse’s competitive start.

‘At the same time, that’s not their offense,’ he said. ‘They were running up and down the floor, and that’s fine with me.’

Syracuse finished with 19 turnovers against a slew of double-teams and deflections. Saturday, SU upset sixth-seeded Georgetown for the program’s first conference tournament win since 2002.

‘My father always said, ‘Tomorrow’s a new day. Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow,” Cieplicki said after the win against Georgetown. ‘I think the players deserve the opportunity to enjoy this.’

His team had less than 24 hours to enjoy the win, and Cieplicki said he did not concede the loss to Connecticut, a traditional women’s basketball powerhouse.

‘I like the way our young players believe in themselves,’ he said. ‘The opportunity to compete with Connecticut, this is the measuring stick. This is as hard as it gets.’

1 2 F

Syracuse 27 29 56

No. 14 Connecticut 45 37 82

Orange (13-16, 4-12)

P R A

Harbut 13 4 5

Adamson 13 0 0

Nwagbo 11 7 0

Coleman 10 2 1

Riley 0 2 1

Richter 3 2 3

Kohn 0 5 0

Sipaviciute 6 3 0

Huskies (21-7, 13-3)

P R A

Turner 16 5 1

Moore 14 10 3

Thomas 14 1 0

Wolff 9 2 2

Strother 9 2 2

Crockett 8 5 1

Swanier 4 2 4

Houston 4 3 1

Marron 2 0 0

Battle 2 2 3

Sadiq 0 3 0

Valley 0 1 3

Published on March 6, 2005 at 12:00 pm