Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Connecticut*
Women's Hoops Falls To No. 2 UConn, 81-60
February 21, 2004 | Women's Basketball
Feb 21, 2004
By JIMMY GOLEN
AP Sports Writer
BOSTON - If second-ranked Connecticut was concerned when Diana Taurasi left the game, it didn't show a bit.
Jessica Moore and Ashley Battle helped UConn erase an early deficit, then Taurasi returned with a taped ankle to score eight consecutive points during a 20-2 run on Saturday and the Huskies pulled away to an 81-60 victory over No. 23 Boston College.
"I'll be OK. I rolled it a little bit," Taurasi said before icing her left ankle. "A lot of people have grown up and stepped up their game."
Moore had a season-high 21 points and eight rebounds and Battle added 17 and seven. Taurasi finished with 13 points and six assists, and Barbara Turner added 10 points for UConn (22-2, 12-1 Big East).
The Huskies won their 11th consecutive game, a streak that started with a victory over Boston College on Jan. 17 that followed a loss to Notre Dame - UConn's only conference loss in its last 56 games and its only road loss in its previous 40.
Although Taurasi was the national player of the year last season, she has been just one cog in the Huskies' latest winning streak. She is scoring about the same amount - about 13 points per game - as Turner and Ann Strother; Battle is also averaging in double figures with just over 10 points per game since the Jan. 13 loss to the Irish.
"I think we're trying to play well so Diana can take a break once in a while," said Moore, the Huskies center.
Amber Jacobs scored 15 and Jessalyn Deveny had 13 for Boston College (18-6, 8-5).
BC coach Cathy Inglese said that when playing the two-time defending champions, there's little to do but hope that either their inside game or their outside game will be struggling. Then, you can concentrate on stopping the other one.
"It was just tough to contain both ends," she said. "You can't do that. You hope they're going to be off on one of them."
Boston College took a 5-0 lead and then Taurasi rolled her left ankle just 1:51 into the game and missed about three minutes. But while she was out, the Huskies scored seven consecutive points to spark the 20-2 run that essentially put the game away.
"We started out well, and then we went into a drought," Boston College guard Sarah Marshall said.
Taurasi came back and scored eight straight points on two 3-pointers and a foul-line jumper before Moore sank one of two free throws to make it 20-7 with 12:21 left in the first half. Boston College never got within 10 points again and never got within 14 points in the second half.
Taurasi had arthroscopic surgery on her right ankle last spring after leading UConn to its second consecutive NCAA title despite being hampered by chronic pain all year. She also injured her back and missed most of the game against St. John's last month but returned to play top-ranked Tennessee five days later.
"Ever since I've been a freshman, I've had injuries," Taurasi said. "They've never really held me back."
BC scored the first five points of the game before UConn took over and opened a 20-7 lead.
Deveny, BC's leading scorer this season, was scoreless in the first half.
