Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
March 3, 2010, Washington Post

U-Conn's women's basketball team is on a historic winning streak

The University of Connecticut women's basketball team may make history this weekend. If the undefeated Huskies win their first-round game in the Big East tournament Sunday, they will tie the Division I women's record of 70 consecutive wins set by the Connecticut teams from 2001 to 2003.

Chances are the Connecticut women will smash the record. Led by 6-foot-4-inch all-American center Tina Charles, the Huskies have been beating teams by an average of more than 35 points a game this season. On Monday, they thrashed Notre Dame at Notre Dame, 76-51, as Charles set Connecticut career records for points scored and rebounds. Notre Dame is no pushover. The Fighting Irish are ranked sixth in the nation.

The closest game the Huskies have had this season was an 80-68 win against the No. 2-ranked Stanford Cardinal in December. Stanford led by two points at halftime, 40-38. Cheered on by their home crowd, the Huskies came storming back to win easily.

The team is terrific. Loaded with stars such as Charles and high-scoring forward Maya Moore, the Huskies just play at a faster pace than other teams. Blowouts aren't always fun to watch, but the Connecticut women show fans just how good a team can be.

Believe it or not, this year's Huskies could have been even better. Hoops phenom Elena Delle Donne was supposed to go to Connecticut. Instead, she went to the University of Delaware, where she played volleyball for a year. She is now playing basketball and leading the country in scoring, averaging almost 27 points a game.

Maybe Stanford (27 wins, 1 loss) or Nebraska (27-0) or Tennessee (27-2) can give Connecticut a good game in the NCAA tournament. But I don't think any team can beat the Huskies.

So next year Connecticut may be chasing another famous basketball number: 88. That's the number of consecutive games won by the UCLA Bruins from 1971 to 1974. Those UCLA men's teams were led by legendary coach John Wooden and included such future pro stars as center Bill Walton and forward Jamaal Wilkes. But even those UCLA teams did not dominate games the way the Connecticut Huskies do now.

This season, every other women's college basketball team is playing for second place. The Connecticut Huskies are playing for history.

Fred Bowen writes the KidsPost's sports opinion column and is the author of 14 books, including a football book, "Touchdown Trouble."

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