"She told a few of the players on the train coming down she was going to shoot the ball every time she touched it if she got in the game, so I thought I might as well get it out of the way right away."
Connecticut tied a record in the Associated Press women's poll yesterday with its 36th straight No. 1 ranking. Louisiana Tech pulled off the feat from 1980 to 1982.
UConn's winning streak is second only to the Huskies' 70-game run, which was stopped by Villanova in 2003.
Gardler has had the last laugh on people who told her in high school that she would never play at UConn.
"She's a really, really smart defender," Auriemma said. "She sees the game differently than most kids.
"At one point during the game, I was thinking, 'If Meghan was [playing for Villanova], she'd probably be playing 30 minutes a game.' And then I thought, 'Wait a minute, she's playing 20 minutes for us.' "
Gardler was 2 for 2 from the floor and scored six points in 24 minutes.
Remembering Kay Yow. Sunday marked the first anniversary of the passing of North Carolina State coach Kay Yow, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer who died after a lengthy battle with breast cancer.
In 2007, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association launched its "Pink Zone" fund-raising initiative to benefit the Kay Yow/WBCACancer Fund.
Details of this year's activities can be found on the WBCA's Web site, WBCA.org.
Tigers on a roll. Holy Family will try to set an Division II record for most consecutive regular-season conference victories (93) when the Tigers visit Goldey-Beacom on Thursday night.
The run started with a win over Caldwell College on Feb. 25, 2005. Former coach Mike McLaughlin, now at Penn, guided the team to 84 straight conference wins.
His successor, Mark Miller, has Holy Family off to an 8-0 start in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.
Honors. St. Joseph's Ashley Prim was named the Atlantic Ten women's rookie of the week. . . . Neumann University's Brittany Whetts is the Colonial States Athletic Conference player of the week. . . . Villanova's Maria Getty is the Big Five player of the week. . . . Delaware's Elena Delle Donne won her sixth Colonial Athletic Association rookie of the week award.
Return of the Nittany Lions. Penn State (15-4, 7-2 Big Ten) entered this week's Associated Press poll at No. 23, its first appearance since the 2004-05 season and first under Coquese Washington, who was hired in the spring of 2007. The Notre Dame graduate is the 27th woman to coach and play for an AP-ranked team.
"It's been a lot of fun and we're playing with a lot of energy," Washington said. "And we're getting great senior leadership from Tyra Grant and Meredith Monroe."
Contact staff writer Mel Greenberg at 215-854-5725 or mgreenberg@phillynews.com. Read his blog at go.philly.com/womhoops.
