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A blog on UConn women's basketball.

Monday, December 30, 2013

UConn's dynamic duo more than offensive phenoms

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis is one of five UConn players with at least 750 points in her first 50 games. With 10 points against Central Florida on Wednesday, Breanna Stewart will join that select company so it is rather obvious that the duo are incredibly gifted offensive players. However, during the Huskies' worst offensive game of the season the duo showed that they are more than just great shooters.

Stewart pulled down a career high 10 defensive rebounds and matched her career high with four steals. Mosqueda-Lewis recorded four of the Huskies' season-low 10 assists. In a game with few highlights, the continued growth of Stewart and Mosqueda-Lewis certainly is worth mentioning.

"Even if your shot is not falling you can impact the game in other ways and just moving around a lot," said Stewart, who recorded her fourth straight double double after managing a total of four of them in her first 45 games. "Coach (Auriemma) has been on me about getting on me about getting open in different ways, it helps other people get open and it helps me rebound.

"I don't know if it (double doubles) means a lot to me but it is something I should be getting for my team, I should be getting in double figures in rebounds in every game and hopefully points and I have to keep being aggressive rebounding."

With the way Mosqueda-Lewis can shoot the ball, piling up assists isn't always the ideal scenario but Auriemma cited her all-around game as a reason why, when healthy, she can pile up the minutes.

"I think anybody who is a really good shooter who can't pass is a bad player because they can't help anybody but themselves," Auriemma said. "Kaleena is a great shooter who is a pretty good passer and I think that is one reason why I think she led the team in minutes played last year because I love having her out on the floor. I know she is going to either make a couple of 3s to break the game open or she is going to make a pretty good pass more times than not."

Mosqueda-Lewis was the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in the history of the Mater Dei High program which has sent its share of players to major colleges. In her fifth career game she displayed a passing fancy with seven assists.

"Coach has been talking about how we have to be complete players and if you don't hit your shots you can't just disappear," Mosqueda-Lewis said.

"It is not going to be crucial for me to score 20 points a night with Stewie, Stef, Bria all on this team but it is going to be crucial for me to do the little things, play good defense and make sure I don't get three fouls in the first half.

"It is especially important for our team just to get some inside game for our post players that we have, we have to take advantage of that."

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