It wasn't too hard to figure out Vanderbilt's defensive game plan last night. The Commodores obviously watched footage of how Notre Dame has defended the Huskies so they came out determined to deprive Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis of any open looks from the perimeter.

Mosqueda-Lewis, who became just the ninth UConn player to score 600 points in a season during the 77-44 win, forced the issue a bit early on as she fired up some ill-advised shots.

A pair of missed shots by Mosqueda-Lewis played a role in Vanderbilt scoring six straight points to pull with five with 5:44 to go in the first half.

Then, just a Vanderbilt was entertaining thoughts of coming all the way back, Mosqueda-Lewis went to work both inside and out. She had seven points, a rebound and steal during a 12-0 run and had seven more points as the Huskies opened the second half on a 17-0 run to turn the game into a laugher.


"I just saw that the team needed a little push," said Mosqueda-Lewis, who had a game-high 22 points for the second straight game. "We were not going to back down whenever they came at us and let them pressure us to the point where we couldn't function and I wanted to make it a point to show my teammates that 'come on guys, we've got this, we can ride it out and as much as they want to give it, we can give it right back.'

"I want to show my teammates that regardless of the physicality or anything like that I am going to work as hard as I can to get rebounds or just help them any way I can. If I can't get open on the outside, I going to score (inside), I am going to get putbacks."