U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS (AP) - Stanford gambled against Connecticut, and the second-ranked Huskies made them pay.
Kalana Greene, left wide open on many plays, scored 18 points to help the Huskies defeat No. 4 Stanford 66-54 on Thursday night at the Paradise Jam. Freshman standout Maya Moore led Connecticut with 19 points.
"We basically gambled off of some of their players, hoping some of their players would not make shots and they made them," said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. "They ran on us and got too many easy baskets."
Moore, who added 12 rebounds and four assists, scored 12 of her points during a decisive 23-6 run that gave the Huskies a 60-34 lead with 9:40 remaining.
"My mentality is to just bring as much chaos for the other team as I can. I bring a lot of energy, get on the boards, whatever my teammates want me to do," Moore said.
Tina Charles added 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Huskies (3-0).
Connecticut scored the first nine points and took a 22-8 lead on a jumper by Charles with 9:35 to play in the first half. They led 31-22 at halftime.
After the decisive run capped by a layup from Moore, the Cardinal (3-1) responded with a 16-2 spurt, pulling within 12 points on a layup by Rosalyn Gold-Onwude.
But the Huskies stopped the skid with a steal by Charles, who hit a lay-up to keep Connecticut in front 64-50 with 3:10 remaining.
Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said his strategy was to keep up the pace of the game as much as possible. He praised his guards for consistently pushing the ball up the court and keeping the Cardinal on their heels.
"I thought there was a stretch there in the second half where it was hard for Stanford to get back in transition," he said.
Auriemma also praised Greene for stepping up to take advantage of her openings.
"That's something that happened a lot last year," he said. "She likes being in cases like that."
Candice Wiggins led Stanford with 15 points. Jayne Appel added 13 points and eight rebounds.
VanDerveer praised her club from rallying back from its early deficit and said the game was an important learning opportunity.
"I told our team this is very early and we can learn a lot from this game." she said.
Connecticut will play Old Dominion on Friday night in the second round of the tournament. Stanford will play Old Dominion on Saturday.