UConn wipes out women in tourney

Arizona Daily Wildcat Photo: Cliff Jette, special to the Arizona Daily Wildcat UA senior center Marte Alexander (42) tries to steal the ball away from Connecticut players Saturday at the NCAA East Regional in Dayton, Ohio. Alexander's suffered an injury to her left knee in the second half as the Huskies won 74-57.

"It just wasn't a Wildcat day," she said after UA's 74-57 loss to Connecticut.

And even that may be an understatement.

UA senior center Marte Alexander got the worst of it all, twice being knocked from the game after spending time on the floor in pain.

Midway through the first half, Alexander collapsed after taking an elbow to the temple from Huskie sophomore center Paige Sauer. Coming off the floor, Alexander's face showed concussion-like signs as she repeatedly blinked her eyes.

No foul was called on the play.

But four minutes later Alexander returned to the game and, despite her team shooting 39 percent from the floor, the Wildcats were down only three thanks to five threes from sophomore guard Lisa Griffith.

Then, with about 12 minutes remaining in the game and UA down 49-43, Griffith drove to the basket and was knocked into Alexander's legs as she hit the layup. Alexander again fell to the ground.

The end result: a preliminary diagnosis of a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a possible tear of the medial colateral ligament marking the end of her collegiate basketball career.

"We started to make a run a little bit," Bonvicini said, "and it hurt when Marte went out because you lose that big presence."

Without the 6-foot-4-inch center, Sauer, who herself stands at 6-5, could not be stopped. UA was outscored 25-12 the rest of the way. Sauer finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds as the Huskies out-rebounded Arizona 51-33.

And though Alexander's injuries were the most dramatic aspects of the loss, the defeat also marked the end of Alexander, Adia Barnes, DeAngela Minter, Cha-Ron Walker, Mikko Giordano and Amber Phoenix's careers at the UA.

But the real story of game was the fact that the Wildcats did not play their usual style of basketball.

"Connecticut really came out on fire and really jumped on us," Barnes said. "Usually we jump on teams from the get-go and control the tempo so that was a little hard to adjust to.

"In the second half we didn't come out with the intensity that we usually come out with and that's the key for us because our defense makes our offense. We just couldn't find that fire."

Barnes said while she was disappointed her team did not play with its usual spark, much of the credit belonged to Connecticut's passing ability and, in particular, Huskie head coach Geno Auriemma's game plan.

"What was really hard in the post is they were sagging," she said. "They were so packed in that we didn't have good spacing to run high-lows or make quick cuts."

"The more pressure they put on us, the better we responded," Connecticut guard Amy Duran said. "For everything they do to us, there is something we can do to them."

But regardless of game plans and injuries, Arizona had its chances to win the game.

Down 65-57 with five minutes remaining, UA missed four layups on four consecutive possessions while the Huskie offense was shut down. Connecticut, however, went 9 for 14 from the free throw line late in the game and ended with a 17-point win despite not hitting a field goal during the contest's final eight minutes.

Arizona did not score a single point over the last 4:51 and shot a dismal 26 percent from the floor in the second half.

"I was disappointed we didn't show more poise at the end," Bonvicini said. "We had opportunities but we were rushing."

In other words, it just wasn't a Wildcat day.