UConn Husky Kalana Greene scores big in Big East title game (see video)

The UConn women’s basketball team’s 60-32 win over West Virginia to capture Connecticut’s 16th Big East Championship underscores why head coach Geno Auriemma has been so successful in his stint at Storrs.

Even as the Huskies extended their record-setting winning streak to 72 Tuesday night at the XL Center in Hartford, the reason why this team is so good is because it is just that – a team.

While Maya Moore and Tina Charles are without doubt the brightest stars in this stellar collection of players Auriemma has assembled, the dynamic duo was held to a total of 22 points by the Mountaineers – including an uncharacteristic 3-for-17 combined shooting percentage in the first half.

The Mountaineers likely thought shutting down this pair of All-Americans would no doubt ensure West Virginia’s victory. But Kalana Greene and Tiffany Hayes filled the offensive void created by their concentration on Charles and Moore. Each netted a game-best 15 points.

“Every game we go into, we understand how difficult it’s going to be for us to just get Maya and Tina whatever shots they want,” Auriemma said after the win over West Virginia.

“I mean, the better the teams you play against, the more difficult it’s going to be to get your two best players open shots. That’s why they’re good teams.

“So somebody has to step up and make plays, and I thought all year long Kalana has been really consistent in providing that for us, whether it’s a defensive spurt or an offensive spurt or a rebounding spurt, there’s been numerous times where she’s provided whatever it seemed like we needed at that time,” Auriemma said.

Most Outstanding Player

Greene not only led in scoring (hitting all of her first seven shots) but also hauled in a game-high 12 rebounds. And what better game to snag a season-high number of boards and turn in your ninth career double-double?

“In this whole tournament I just wanted to come in and just help my team win in whichever way possible, rebound, play defense and knock in a couple shots,” Greene said.

For her back-to-back 15-point performances in the final two games of the tournament and for taking up the rebounding burden when Charles was no longer in charge under the boards due to Mountaineers double- and sometimes triple-teaming her, Green was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

“Kalana is just great,” Moore said. “She’s a critical part of our team. She can do a lot of different things on the court. She has stepped up and been that constant leader for us by example.

“She is kind of like our safety net. She sometimes doesn’t get the credit she deserves, and it’s just great that she’s being recognized for all the intangibles that she brings to our team,” Moore said.

Moore joined Greene and Charles on the All-Tournament Team along with Notre Dame’s Skylar Diggins and two West Virginia players, Liz Repella and Sarah Miles.

Second time up against West Virginia

Interestingly enough, Greene is the only Connecticut player to have appeared in the 2010 Big East title game and the 2006 conference championship game, coincidentally also against West Virginia, both won by UConn.

Greene was able to pull off this double play of sorts because she would only play in eight games in 2007-08 before suffering a season-ending knee injury and receiving an NCAA medical redshirt.

Attesting to her longevity, the 5-foot-10 guard from South Carolina set a school record Tuesday, playing in her 151st game and thereby breaking the tie she had shared for one day with Renee Montgomery.

Kalana also moved into 21st place on Connecticut’s all-time scoring list.

She says entering her fifth and final year at UConn offered her a chance to reflect on how she might improve her game.

“I think this year, I brought a different approach in practice, and it prepared me for games,” Kalana said. “I just wanted to play hard and just leave it all on the floor and build a lot of momentum going into the tournament.”

The tournament she refers to is the NCAA Tournament where the Huskies look to get to San Antonio and defend the crown they won a year ago in another saintly city – St. Louis.

Off to Philly

UConn fans won’t be able to watch any opening round games on UConn’s home courts, either in Hartford or Storrs because for some inexplicable reason, those games are being played in Pittsburgh this year, a move that doesn’t seem to make sense financially. If there is any hotbed of women’s college basketball, Storrs is surely the place.

“Sometimes you’re better off not being the home team because you get more calls,” Auriemma mused. “They figure if you’re the home team, you don’t need those calls.”

This year the field includes Tennessee, Auriemma’s team you love to hate, a team that lost early in the 2009 tournament but is ranked fourth nationally right now and would seem to be dead set in the Huskies’s path en route to a second straight national title.

“We’re going to start the NCAA Tournament trying to win the national championship, and we’re going to have to play whoever is in our way to get there,” Auriemma said. “If it’s them, great; if it’s not, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it either way.”

Posted March 10, 2010
UConn Coach Geno Auriemma talks about his winning team (Vito. J. Leo video clip)