Tennessee, UConn, Stanford Take a Fall

Tennessee and Connecticut, two programs that have accounted for eight of the last 10 NCAA Division I titles in women’s basketball, lost on the same night -- by double digits.

Each team faced a ranked opponent Wednesday, but that didn’t take away the sting of the No. 8 Lady Vols’ 65-51 defeat by No. 24 Rutgers at Piscataway, N.J., or the No. 11 Huskies’ 67-51 loss to No. 10 Michigan State at Hartford, Conn.

Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt admitted to breaking her clipboard as her team faced a 17-point halftime deficit.

“I didn’t say a lot,” Summitt said. “I didn’t throw anything. That’s not my style. I did think about it, though.”

Tennessee’s first-half total of 16 was only two points shy of the Lady Vols’ record low set against Virginia in 1996. Tennessee’s total of 51 points tied its second-fewest scored in a game. The lowest is 46 against Louisiana Tech in 1982.

Rutgers (7-2) not only won, it embarrassed Tennessee (8-3) with two freshmen leading the way. Matee Ajavon scored 20 points, and Essence Carson added 14 points and 13 rebounds on a night when the Scarlet Knights’ leading scorer the last two seasons, senior Cappie Pondexter, was in the lineup for the first time this season but scored only one point in 15 minutes. It has not been disclosed why Pondexter missed the first eight games.

Rutgers led by as many as 23 points in the second half, and the 14-point final margin was the closest Tennessee came in roughly the final 24 minutes.

As for Connecticut’s defeat in front of 16,294 fans, senior guard Ann Strother said: “To play like that in front of so many people who have made the program what it is, you just want to go jump in a hole.”

It was the worst home loss for the Huskies (6-3) since a 16-point defeat to Miami on Feb. 21, 1992. Connecticut hasn’t lost three games this early since the 1991-92 season.

Michigan State (11-1), off to the best start in the program’s history, had a 30-26 halftime lead and then made it look easy with a 20-6 surge early in the second half.

The Spartans, topped by Lindsay Bowen’s 21 points, led by as many as 21 points in the closing minutes. Bowen made five of seven three-point shots, and 6-foot-4 Kelli Roehrig gave the Spartans the early inside edge, finishing with 11 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots.

Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma said he had “just a bad basketball team at this point in time” and added that “there’s just too many breakdowns over and over and over again.”

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Oregon 62, No. 5 Stanford 58 -- The Ducks (9-2, 2-0 Pacific 10) overcame a 14-point first-half deficit to upset the Cardinal (9-2, 1-1) at Eugene, Ore.

The last time Oregon beat a top five team was Dec. 29, 1983, with a victory over No. 5 Maryland.

The Ducks took the lead against the Cardinal, at 53-51, when Kaela Chapdelaine made consecutive three-point shots and later pushed their lead to four points. Stanford came within one, at 59-58, with 1:32 left, when Cardinal forward T’Nae Thiel made one of two free throws.

But Stanford, led by Candice Wiggins’ 16 points, didn’t score again.

Andrea Bills led Oregon with 18 points and 15 rebounds, and Cathrine Kraayeveld added 16 points and 15 rebounds.

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Washington 63, No. 21 Arizona State 55 -- The Huskies (5-7, 1-1 Pac-10) took a four-point halftime lead over the Sun Devils (9-3, 1-1) and extended it to as many as nine before securing the victory at Seattle. The victory extended Washington’s home winning streak over the Sun Devils to nine. Arizona State, which last won at Seattle on Feb. 3, 1996, had 27 turnovers and made only 47% (seven of 15) of its free throws.