WOMENS: UCONN'S TAURASI AT HOME ON ROAD ALL-AMERICAN FROM CHINO SCORES 17 POINTS AND GRABS EIGHT REBOUNDS TO LEAD ROUT OF PEPPERDINE UCONN 84, PEPPERDINE 53.Byline: Ramona Shelburne Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writer MALIBU - The last time Diana Taurasi Diana Lurena Taurasi (born June 11, 1982 in Chino, California) is a professional basketball player who plays for the Phoenix Mercury in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). played in front of her family and friends in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , she scored no points and had two assists. But that was her freshman year and her first road game, and the Chino Chino (chē`nō), city (1990 pop. 59,682), San Bernardino co., S Calif.; founded 1887, inc. 1910. It is the business and processing center of a diversified farming (notably dairying) area. native understandably had some jitters jitters 'Butterflies' Psychology An episode of nervousness or anxiety that often precedes a public event; jitters is a type of performance anxiety which may affect actors in a stage production–stage fright or soloist musicians; it may respond to anxiolytics . To put it mildly, she's accomplished much since then. After an airball on a 3-point attempt early Friday against Pepperdine, the reigning national player of the year quickly overcame whatever nerves she might have had. Taurasi led the No. 1 Huskies with 17 points and eight rebounds in an 84-53 victory over the Waves in front of a school-record 3,121 at Firestone Fieldhouse Firestone Fieldhouse is a multipurpose arena located in Malibu, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. It was built in 1973 as the home of the Pepperdine University Waves basketball and volleyball teams, who still play at the Fieldhouse today. . ``It was great to come here, I don't get to go home much. Last time I was home was two weeks in August, and that flew by so fast,'' Taurasi said. ``I think it was a great atmosphere here. They had a lot of fans, we had a lot of fans. It was kind of like a high school environment. ``Last time I was here I had a big goose egg ... but I'm a senior now. After three years you learn to concentrate all the time. As a freshman, you have lapses sometimes.'' Her personal cheering section will get another chance to see her play Sunday, when UConn plays USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. at the Sports Arena. Taurasi, who figures to be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft The WNBA Draft is an annual draft held by the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) through which WNBA teams can select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players. The first WNBA draft was held in 1997. this spring, has a reputation for only scoring big when UConn needs her most. But despite the lopsided final score, Connecticut needed everything she could give them against Pepperdine. The Waves, sparked by the return of senior point guard Shandrika Lee, back after missing almost a year with knee injuries, led 15-9 after hitting five 3-pointers. Lee and Shanell Law had two 3-pointers and Nicole Funn one. But UConn rallied behind Taurasi to go on a 25-0 run over an 8-minute, 30-second span in the first half and led by as many as 22 points. Pepperdine closed to 46-30 by the half thanks to 70 percent shooting from 3-point range. In the second half, UConn pulled away to lead by as many as 33 points but only broke away late because Pepperdine was effective with a full-court press full-court press n. 1. Basketball An aggressive defensive strategy in which one or two players harass the ball handler in the backcourt while the rest of the team maintains a close man-to-man or zone defense. 2. that forced 22 turnovers. Taurasi left the game with cramps in her calf with 10:05 remaining and did not return. For Pepperdine, it was a much better showing against UConn than last season, when the Waves lost 109-48 to the Huskies in Storrs, Conn. ``Hey, last time it was (61), this time we cut it to 31. Maybe next time we'll cut it down even more,'' Law said. ``It was a real physical game out there. The only thing I felt was open were 3s.'' Pepperdine's three losses this year have come to teams ranked in the Top 25, including two in the top 10: UConn and No. 6 Stanford. Lee finished with 11 points and three 3-pointers, but UConn had too many weapons. Sophomore Ann Strother had 14 points and forward Barbara Turner had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Huskies. Although there was a large group of Pepperdine students at the game, the majority of the crowd was sporting UConn T-shirts and sweaters. The loudest ovation came when Taurasi was introduced. It was Connecticut's 72nd consecutive regular-season victory, with their last loss coming in 2001 against Tennessee. Ramona Shelburne, (818) 713-3617 ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com |
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