Hoyas bring out UConn's fire

Storrs - If Georgetown women's coach Terri Williams-Flournoy left Gampel Pavilion with any hint of accomplishment on Saturday - and after an 80-38 loss, it's doubtful - there's at least this much:

The Hoyas have UConn's full attention.

Maybe it's Georgetown's improvement, all the way to a No. 14 national ranking.

Maybe it was last season's scare in the Sweet 16.

Maybe it's the way Georgetown competes.

But it's clear UConn views Georgetown as a "rival," a word UConn senior Kelly Faris used several times after Saturday's game.

"I don't know what it is," she said. "But every time you play them, you have to tough it out."

And the third-ranked Huskies did so Saturday, much to their delight. They had a 13-point lead at halftime that nonetheless caused a few tremors from coach Geno Auriemma before a textbook second half.

Faris said Auriemma wasn't happy with the way UConn "responded to the challenge" in the first half.

"And he challenged us," she said.

"I'm too old to yell and scream and do what I used to do," Auriemma said. "But every once in a while, I still have it in me."

The other piece of encouraging news came from freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who made her recent 9-for-39 shooting malaise into a duller ache. She made 10 of 16 shots and scored a game-high 23 points.

"At some point, when you're a really good shooter and really good player, if you keep shooting, they're going to go in," Auriemma said. " … It's one day. I'm glad we're playing again Monday (at Oklahoma) so she has an opportunity to add to that."

The Huskies held Georgetown's Sugar Rodgers, among the Big East's scoring leaders (19.9 points per game) to 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting.

"Dang," Faris said. "She got 10?"

Faris was reminded that it came on 4-for-13 shooting.

"It's still 10," she said.

Faris, a hard marker, was more pleased with the way UConn held Georgetown to 25 percent shooting. It even got Auriemma to admit that this edition of the Huskies has more defensive options than last year.

Bria Hartley had 18 points for UConn and Tiffany Hayes had 12. Faris, who covered Rodgers much of the game, had a team-high six assists.

"A lot of teams play physical games against us," Hartley said. "But Georgetown presses the entire game. You have to deal with that. You have to be tougher."

m.dimauro@theday.com