He ran into trouble for saying it before on his local television show. But that didn’t stop Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma from using the same analogy when describing his team’s shooting woes.

‘We have a team of guys that like to do things together. Typical women,’ Auriemma said in a jocular manner. ‘They can’t do anything by themselves.’

The final score shows No. 8 Connecticut dominated Syracuse, 65-36, at the Carrier Dome on Wednesday night. But the way various UConn players tried to make plays on their own on many occasions in the first half, it looked like Syracuse could pull an upset it sorely needs.

The Huskies (25-3, 13-1 in the Big East) shot a measly 32 percent against a team who typically registers those numbers every game.

Auriemma thought he needed a vocal leader to help lead the Huskies out of their rut. When senior guard Ann Strother was in the game, UConn looked like it deserved its top 10 ranking. She only scored five points, shooting 2-of-10 and logging 18 minutes. But when she started the first 4:27 of the game, the Huskies went out to a 12-4 lead.

Auriemma took Strother out for the rest of the half to give her some rest. The Huskies’ head coach thought he could give his star player some rest for her injured left ankle. But Syracuse (9-16, 2-12 Big East) took advantage of it by holding Connecticut scoreless starting with 14:08 left in the first half to the 7:25 mark.

Auriemma noted the absence and decided to put Strother back into the second half before a 23-20 SU halftime lead became more.

‘It was a good adjustment to put Struthers in the game,’ Syracuse women’s basketball coach Keith Cieplicki said. ‘I thought defensively we did a better job in the first half.’

Although Syracuse held its own defensively by mixing up man-to-man to a 2-3 zone, it only proved to be effective in the first half because it was able to focus specifically on Renee Montgomery and Mel Thomas. But with Strother added to the mix, UConn had another guard who could penetrate around to the perimeter.

‘I think people were concentrating more in the second half,’ Strother said. ‘They were getting more opportunities and offensive rebounds. Overall I think we shot with more confidence and got more shots. I think (Syracuse) played defense pretty consistently.’

Connecticut improved its second half by shooting to 45 percent. With the Orange worrying more about Strother, it allowed Montgomery and Thomas to take over the scoring duties. Montgomery and Thomas scored 17 and 11 points, respectively. Although Thomas left the game with 12:40 left after injuring her ankle, the damage Connecticut inflicted was already done.

‘Even if she doesn’t score much, she’s still our emotional vocal leader,’ Montgomery said of Strother. ‘When you’re missing a leader of course things are going to be shaky.’

Published on February 22, 2006 at 12:00 pm