Rochelle Coleman scored a season-high 19 points against the No. 11-ranked Huskies.
Coleman Hits Five Three-Pointers in 85-49 Loss at #11 Connecticut
2/19/2005 4:41:00 PM | Women's Basketball
HARTFORD, Conn. – Charde Houston had 20 points and nine rebounds and Ann Strother chipped in 16 points, including four three-pointers, to lead No. 11-ranked Connecticut (18-6, 11-2 BIG EAST) to an 85-49 victory against Syracuse (11-14, 3-11 BIG EAST) at the Hartford Civic Center. It was SU's sixth game against a ranked opponent and sixth-straight setback overall.
SU senior guard Rochelle Coleman (Burtonsville, Md.) tallied a season-high 19 points, including five three-pointers. She had eight of her 19 points in the first half and then scored eight consecutive points during one stretch in the second half to cut the Huskies' lead to 61-41 with 11:22 remaining in the game.
Freshman guard Mary Joe Riley (Inkster, Mich.) scored 10 points for Syracuse It was her third double-digit game in five starts for the Orange.
Freshman center Vaida Sipaviciute (Kaunas, Lithuania) led the Orange with seven rebounds. She also had six points.
UConn led 43-26 at halftime thanks to 14 points from Houston and 11 (including three three-pointers) from Strother. Syracuse missed its first five shots and the Huskies capitalized, jumping out to a 12-0 lead. The Orange scored its first bucket at the 16:17 mark of the first half. Sipaviciute was responsible for the team's first basket.
From there, Connecticut made nine of its first 15 shots and led 23-9 with 11:54 remaining in the first half. The Husky defense held SU to just 4-of-13 shooting from the floor. UConn took its largest lead of the first half, 32-12, with 7:15 on the clock. Syracuse managed to trim it down to 13 points by the 5:03 mark, before Strother sank her third three-pointer of the half. The Huskies went on to score 11 of the last 18 points during the game's opening 20 minutes.
In the second stanza, UConn registered the first four points of the half to take a 47-26 lead. With 15:30 remaining, Coleman hit her first three-pointer of the second half to pull the Orange to within 52-33. Connecticut answered by going on a 9-0 run over the next two minutes to increase its advantage to 61-33 with 13:28 remaining in the game. That's when Coleman got hot with eight-straight points. The two teams traded baskets around the 10-minute mark, but the Huskies assured themselves command with a 22-6 run over the game's final nine minutes.
In addition to strong performances by Houston and Strother, UConn was aided by a 12-point effort from Jessica Moore and a 10-point, 11-rebound contribution from Barbara Turner, off the bench.
The Huskies out-rebounded Syracuse, 52-32, and shot 48.6 percent from the field, while holding the Orange to a 30.8 field-goal shooting percentage.
Syracuse's 16 turnovers led to 28 Connecticut points. The Orange was outscored in the paint, 40-12.
SU freshman guard Jessica Richter (Oregon City, Ore.) had a four-game streak of scoring in double digits snapped. It was the first time this season she was held to fewer than 10 points against a ranked opponent.
Coach Keith Cieplicki's team will next be in action on Saturday, Feb. 26, at home against Seton Hall at 7 p.m.
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