It has been an interesting seven days for the UConn women’s team since their loss to Rutgers a week ago. Nicole Wolff declared that she would not return for her final year of eligibility and injured Brittany Hunter returned to practice. Their distance from the top of the Polls doubled, as they dropped from forth to eighth in the AP Poll and from third to sixth in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, despite a convincing 13 point win on the road at Texas. And the Huskies returned to their winning ways at home, beating lowly Providence College by a score of 84-58 at a less than packed Hartford Civic Center.

On Monday, Wolff, the senior guard, announced that she would not use the additional season gained through her medical redshirting of the 2003-2004 season due to an ACL injury. Wolff had recently lost her starting position to senior forward/center Willnett Crockett in the Texas and Providence games, and has seen limited time in her career at UConn. She will leave UConn with the other players in her class, Crocket, Ann Strother and Barbara Turner.

On Tuesday, one of the Huskies biggest inside threats, 6’ 3” Hunter, returned to drills in practice. After missing the previous five games due to a painful right knee, her six minutes against Providence on Wednesday represents the first steps along the road towards getting back into game shape and being a factor in the upcoming Big East and NCAA tournaments.

And on Wednesday, although UConn (23-3, 11-1) beat the perennial cellar dwelling Friars (8-16, 3-10), the game was much closer than last year’s score of 71-24 at Providence and was more competitive than anticipated, in large part to first year Head Coach Phil Seymore’s influence on his team.

Barbara Turner led the five UConn players in double figures with 20 points, while adding 13 rebounds. It was Turner’s second consecutive double-double and her sixth of the season. Strother, sophomores Charde Houston and Ketia Swanier, and freshman Kalana Greene each added 10 points apiece. Swanier tied her career high in points, which she set last season at Providence, while Greene continues to provide a spark off of the bench. Crockett added four points and eight rebounds.

Mel Thomas had another off night shooting, hitting on only one of eight shots, though she added a team high six assists and contributed with several hustle plays, the most sensational being when she deflected the ball, dove, and in the same motion swatted the ball up-court to Renee Montgomery for an uncontested lay-up.

Freshman guard Chelsea Marandola led the way for the Friars with a game and career high 24 points, while junior forward Shauna Snyder contributed 12 points. Of the two Connecticut players on Providence, Portland’s Ashley Etheridge scored six points while West Hartford’s Jennifer Cannada did not play.

Coach Geno Auriemma made note of Turner’s effort in her final regular season game in Hartford, “She’s taking it very seriously and so is Anne (Strother) and Willnett (Crockett) as well as Nicole (Wolff) to a different extent. I think they’ve all made that progression. They understand that time’s running out.”

However, the bemused Huskies coach was not totally satisfied with the results, notably those of point guard Swanier. “I’ve spent a lot of time with Ketia on looking at, say, Mel (Thomas), for a wide open three and hitting the guy in the band in the head. That doesn’t come naturally. You have to spend time on that. Dribble over to the right and stare at one of the best three-point shooters in the country and then hit the guy in the band and say ‘take that’. We are working on some things.”

He then compared his two point guards, “I don’t think Renee can push it as fast as Ketia and I don’t think that Ketia can make as many shots as Renee can. They are different. And they see the game differently. As long as they both are productive they are going to continue to split the time.”

Turner reflected upon her efforts, “Tonight and before the game, I was sitting there thinking that this is my last Civic Center regular season game. I want to leave feeling good about it and that’s the way it happened tonight.”

Notes

The win by UConn assures a first round bye in the upcoming Big East Tournament being held at the Hartford Civic Center on March 4th-7th.

The win extended UConn’s winning streak over Providence to 21 games. UConn leads the series 33 to 21.

UConn’s senior class is now 36-5 in the Civic Center, which includes a record of 4-1 in the Big East Tournament and a record of 2-0 in the NCAA tournament.

UConn’s prized recruit, Tina Charles of Christ the King High School, was named the 2006 State Farm/WBCA High School Player of the Year. Charles follows in the footsteps of two popular Huskies: Sue Bird attended the same High School and Ann Strother was the WBCA Player of the Year in 2002.

Geno Auriemma was named as a finalist for election into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2006.

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