2000-2001 ONNECTICUONNECTICUTT Huskies CCCUCONN ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS ~ CONTACT: ANNMARIE PERSON OR GAIL WILKINS ~ NOTES FOR NOV. 21, 2000 PHONE: (860) 486-3531 ~ FAX: (860) 486-5085 PROBABLE STARTERS VS. PEPPERDINE #1/1 CONNECTICUT 10 Sue Bird G Jr. 5-9 Syosset, NY vs. 33 Shea Ralph G/F Sr. 6-0 Fayetteville, NC PEPPERDINE 11 Kelly Schumacher C Sr. 6-5 Quyon, Quebec 25 Svetlana Abrosimova F Sr. 6-2 St. Petersburg, Russia AP/ESPN-USA TODAY 32 Swin Cash F Jr. 6-2 McKeesport, PA 10:00 p.m. ET, Tuesday, November 21, 2000 OFF THE BENCH Firestone Fieldhouse, Malibu, CA. 34 Tamika Williams F Jr. 6-2 Dayton, OH 15 Asjha Jones F/C Jr. 6-2 Piscataway, NJ 2000-2001 CONNECTICUT SCHEDULE 3 Diana Taurasi G/F Fr. 6-0 Chino, CA NOVEMBER 22 Ashley Battle G Fr. 6-0 Pittsburgh, PA 12 STATE FARM TIP-OFF CLASSIC (HCC) 20 Morgan Valley G Fr. 6-0 Colchester, VT #12 ODU vs. #13 Penn State- espn2 PSU 99, ODU 72 5 Maria Conlon G Fr. 5-9 Derby, CT #1 UConn vs. #3 Georgia- ESPN W, 99-70 21 at Pepperdine- CPTV 10:00 p.m. 44 Christine Rigby C Sr. 6-6 Victoria, B.C. 24 at Washington- CPTV 11:45 p.m. 13 Marci Czel G Sr. 5-7 Guilford, CT 29 GEORGE WASHINGTON (HCC)- CPTV 7:30 p.m. 23 Kennitra Johnson G So. 5-7 New Albany, IN DECEMBER 5 *at Miami- CPTV 7:00 p.m. Television Coverage: CPTV Bob Picozzi (play-by-play), Meghan Pattyson (analyst) 7 HOLY CROSS (GP)- CPTV 7:30 p.m. Radio Coverage: UConn Radio Network 10 at Illinois- CPTV 3:00 p.m. WTIC (1080-AM); WILI (1400-AM);WICH (1310-AM); WLIS (1420-AM); 22 WAKE FOREST (GP)- CPTV 2:00 p.m. WNLK (1350-AM); WSTC (1400-AM); WMRD (1150-AM); WICC (600-AM). 30 TENNESSEE (HCC)- CBS 4:00 p.m. JANUARY TONIGHT'S GAME The Connecticut Huskies, ranked No. 1 in the country, face the 2 *GEORGETOWN (GP)- CPTV 7:30 p.m. Pepperdine Waves in only the second meeting between the 7 at Louisiana Tech- espn2 7:30 p.m. two teams in the sport of women's basketball. UConn owns a 1- 9 *at Syracuse- CPTV 7:00 p.m. 0 lead in the series after defeating the Waves, 101-58, in Gampel 13 *PROVIDENCE (GP)- CPTV 7:30 p.m. during the 1999-2000 National Championship season. The Waves 15 *at Notre Dame- ESPN 2:00 p.m. were one of eight non-conference schools that the Huskies 18 OLD DOMINION (GP)- CPTV 7:30 p.m. defeated in 1999-2000 who won their regular season conference 20 *at Pittsburgh- CPTV 2:00 p.m. title. Pepperdine won the WCC title, while the Huskies also 23 *MIAMI (GP)- CPTV 7:30 p.m. defeated Penn State (Big Ten winner), Oklahoma (Big 12 Tri- champs), Old Dominion (Colonial winner), Holy Cross (Patriot 27 *SYRACUSE (HCC)- CPTV 1:00 p.m. League champs), Tennessee (Co-Champs of SEC), LaTech FEBRUARY (Sunbelt winner), and Hampton (MEAC champs). 1 at Tennessee- ESPN 7:00 p.m. 4 *VILLANOVA (GP)- CPTV 2:00 p.m. THE LAST MEETING- HUSKIES ROUT PEPPERDINE 7 *at Virginia Tech- CPTV 7:00 p.m. (AP- Nov. 28)-Shea Ralph scored nine points in the first five 11 *at Boston College- Fox Noon minutes as UConn broke out to an 11-point lead and coasted 14 *RUTGERS (GP)- CPTV 7:30 p.m. to a 101-58 win over Pepperdine on Sunday. 18 *at Villanova- CPTV Noon Ralph, who was 7-of-8 from the floor on the night, has been near perfect in the past two games. She missed her first shot 20 *WEST VIRGINIA (HCC)- CPTV 7:30 p.m. from the floor with 19:05 left in the game. It was her first miss in 23 *ST. JOHN’S (GP)- CPTV 7:30 p.m. two games. 27 *at Seton Hall- CPTV 7:00 p.m. The former national high school player of the year was 9-for- MARCH 9 from the floor on Friday in UConn’s 109-66 rout over No. 14 Old 3-6 BIG EAST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT Dominion. Against Pepperdine, she hit all eight free throw at- (Harry A. Gampel Pavilion-Storrs, CT) tempts. 16/18 or NCAA First & Second Rounds- Campus Sites Svetlana Abrosimova scored 19 points before leaving with a 17/19 bloody nose in the final 6 1/2 minutes. UConn’s dominance on the boards help fuel the Huskies’ tran- 25/27 NCAA Regional Tournament- TBA sition game. The Huskies outrebounded the Wave 42-29, led by 30-April 1NCAA Final Four- Savvis Center, St. Louis, MO Swin Cash’s eight boards. UConn had 58 points in the paint and 18 off the fastbreak. Home Games in Bold Caps GP- Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, HCC- Hartford Civic Center Rasheeda Clark led Pepperdine with 19 points. All Times EST and Subject To Change http://www.UConnHuskies.com 24-HOUR SNET HUSKY SPORTS HOTLINE -- 860-486-5050 2000-2001 CONNECTICUT WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NOTES ~ PAGE 2 ROAD OPENERS RANKED OPENERS Pepperdine will be UConn’s first road trip of the season; the Hus- Despite UConn's loaded schedules over the past years, the kies are 16-10 in road openers. However, in the Geno Auriemma Georgia game was only the third time in history that the Huskies era the record stands at 11-4. In fact, it was a road test that opened the year versus a ranked opponent. They are currently provided Auriemma with his first-ever victory as a head coach as 2-1 versus ranked teams in season openers. The Huskies lost to he began his career against Iona (11/23/85). In that game, then-No. 4 LaTech in the Tip-Off in 1995 and defeated then-No. Auriemma guided the Huskies to a 73-67 victory. 21 Duke in the Four in the Fall Classic (San Jose, CA) to open 1998. UCONN AND THE WCC UConn has never lost to an opponent from the West Coast Con- 'TIS THE SEASON OPENER ference. The Huskies own a 2-0 record against San Francisco and In season openers, UConn is now 19-8 (.692) overall and 12-4 are 1-0 vs. Pepperdine. (.733) under Geno Auriemma. On that same note, Connecticut is 22-5 in home openers and is 15-1 during the Auriemma tenure. COAST-TO-COAST The sole loss came to Iowa (41-58, 11/29/90). On an even smaller UConn’s coast-to-coast trip from Storrs, CT to Malibu, CA and to scale, the Huskies are 2-0 in Hartford Civic Center home openers. Seattle, WA, will be its longest road swing of the year. From Storrs to In November, the opening month of play, UConn is 22-1 in home Malibu it’s 2,945.8 miles. The next leg of the West Coast tour up to games under Auriemma. Seattle is 1,145 miles. Finally, from Seattle back home is another 2978.6 miles. All together, the trip will be 7,069.4 miles. If someone TRUE INCUMBENTS were to drive from place to place it is estimated the total trip Including the week of 11/13, the Huskies have been nationally would take 119 hours and 20 minutes. That time is 40 minutes shy ranked in the Top 25 for 133 consecutive polls dating back to of exactly five days. November 23, 1993 (seven seasons). UConn has been ranked No. 1 in the polls since preseason of 1999 making their stay 21 TAURASI HOMECOMING consecutive weeks at the top; a school record for consecutive Considered by many the top prospect in the country coming out rankings. of high school last season, Diana Taurasi (Fr., G/F) will get a chance to return to her home state of California. As the Pepperdine cam- EARLY GAMERS pus is just about an hour and a half from her hometown of Chino, By 19 hours, the Nov. 12 start for UConn was the earliest tip-off to CA, many of her friends and family should be able use this as an a UConn women's basketball season in school history. The closest opportunity to see her play. Taurasi attended Don Lugo High to it was the 1998-99 season when Connecticut and Duke squared School. Pepperdine’s Rasheeda Clark graduated from Chino HS off against one another on Nov. 13 in the Four in the Fall Classic and Tamara McDonald went to Chaffey High. The three school’s in San Jose, CA. The Georgia game start time was 4 p.m. ET, the are all within a 20 mile radius of one another. 1998-99 UConn-Duke game started at 6 p.m. PT. THE BIG 18 WIRE-TO-WIRE-TO-WIRE? The day before the Pepperdine game, Nov. 20, will be Maria UConn's remarkable journey to the national championship in Conlon’s (Fr., G, Derby, CT) birthday. Most notably, Conlon shares 1999-2000 started with a preseason No. 1 ranking and ended her birthday with Robert F. Kennedy. with the same. The hype currently surrounding this year's squad expects nothing less than a repeat. LaTech is the only school in UCONN IN THE TIP-OFF CLASSIC history to hold the No. 1 spot for two consecutive seasons, 1980- UConn's season opener versus Georgia was the third time the 82, when they also won back-to-back championships. The last Huskies opened the season in the Tip-Off Classic and second time time a team was ranked wire-to-wire was Tennessee in 1997-98.