women's highlights
No. 1 UConn, No. 2 Tar Heels to meet in clash of unbeatens Tonight's game between No. 1 Connecticut and No. 2 North Carolina features the two top scoring offenses in NCAA Division I women's basketball -- both averaging more than 85 points per game.
Quick, skilled and well-coached, the teams are expected to engage in up-tempo, transition-style basketball many observers say is consistently lacking in the sport. With ESPN2 camera's zooming in at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C., these two undefeated teams will tip off at 6 p.m. Twin Cities time.
"I love to play them because they play like we do," North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "They get up and down the floor. They score points. They are fun to watch."
But are the Huskies fun to defend?
Not usually. On Saturday, UConn (17-0) scored 107 points on conference foe Syracuse -- the third time this season it has topped the 100-point mark.
Three UConn players -- Renee Montgomery, Maya Moore and Tina Charles -- average double-figure scoring. Moore, a sophomore who scored a career-high 40 points against Syracuse, leads the team with an average of 19.6 points per game and 9.1 rebounds. On Saturday she surpassed 1,000 points in only 55 games, smashing the school record of 63 games.
North Carolina (17-0), a team with its own three double-figure scorers, put up 103 points in a victory over Virginia on Friday.
"Someone is going to lose," North Carolina forward Rashanda McCants said. "We're just going to work hard and make sure it's not us."