UConn passed its first test of the season, but only with a "C" for gaining confidence. Great defense, poor shooting, rebounding, and TO's were the story of the game as the Huskies were led by Montgomery (26 pts, 3 asts, 9 TO's) in the defeat of #9 Purdue in a low scoring affair 66-55. They played great basketball for the second half of the first half breaking a tied game at 18-18 open with a 17-2 run to end the first half 35-20. They only received a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 from their coach, but he was happy with the game and understands it was only Nov. 30th. He was pleased to get a great win using hounding defense over a great Top 10 opponent especially since no one on the team is anywhere near as good as they should be come Jan./Feb. Besides Montgomery, another player who played great was Thomas who shut down Sr. All-American candidate and potential 1st Rd. draft pick SG Katie Gearlds. Gearlds came in averaging 20 ppg after 6 gms. to 4 pts. on 2 of 18 shooting (0-9 from 3-pt land). Some shots she missed were wide open shots, but credit Thomas for getting into her head early and making life miserable for the rest of the game as both players played the entire 40 mins.

UConn made a statement, but most importantly so too did Houston, who struggled to get shots off early against Purdue's other All-America candidate Lindsey Wisdom-Hylton, but shrugged off a slow first half not allowing it to affect the rest of her game as she played a career high 35 minutes finishing with 9 pts., 7 rebs, 5 asts. (career high), 4 blks. (career high), and 4 stls. proving once again and day-by-day that she is focused on 'the game' and not just scoring points. Hunter, Greene, and McLaren played well at times and unfortunately Charles appeared shell-shocked in her first nationally televised game of her career finishing with season lows of 6 pts., 3 rebs., and 1 blk. Before the tip-off, Geno was honored with the unveiling of his two Hall of Fame banners as well as the 5 National Players of the Year...up next are the 10 female 1st team All-Americans (Dec. 21st vs. Colorado St.).