In womens' college hoops the host Johnson State Badgers defeated Plymouth State 65-57 at Carter Gym last night. Kasey DeGreenia led all scorers with 18 points and owned the board, pulling down 17 rebounds for a double double. The Badgers improve to just below .500 on the season at 11-12 with the non-conference win.
The biggest womens' college basketball game of the night, though, was played in Connecticut, where the number one team in the country, the UConn Huskies added to their legendary run of success with a 66-55 win over number six South Carolina. Just a regular season game, sure, but it marked UConn's 100th win in a row. Yes, the Huskies have now gone one hundred consecutive games without losing. To anyone. They're on a run of four straight NCAA championships under coach Geno Auriemma, and they won again last night even with one of their star players, Kia Nurse, hobbled by injury. Needless to say, the 100 straight wins is an NCAA division one record, and like the Cal Ripken consecutive games streak, isn't one likely to be broken any time soon, if ever.
On the high school hardwood a number of games were postponed due to the winter storm yesterday, but one game that did get played saw the CVU boys improve to 16-1 on the season, topping St. Johnsbury 57-52. The Redhawks have now won 13 in a row, and got balanced scoring last night with four players in double figures, while Antonio Carlilse had a game high 17 for St. Johnsbury in the losing effort.
In boys' high school hockey Jordy Allard scored a hat trick to lead Hartford over Northfield 5-2.
In the NHL, the NY Rangers squeezed past the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 when rookie Jimmy Vesey scored to break a third period tie, and back-up goalie Antti Raanta held the fort in the final minute when Columbus pulled the goalie for an extra skater and swarmed the Rangers end of the ice. Raanta finished with 30 saves on the night. Dan Girardi and Kevin Hayes also scored for the Blueshirts.
In the NBA, it's hard to recall now the early part of the season when the Boston Celtics really struggled, because now Boston is on a run in which they've won ten of their last eleven games, including last night's 111-98 win over the Dallas Mavericks. Isaiah Thomas continues to shine, pouring in 29 points in the win, but when the Celtics are really good, they're giving Thomas lots of support, and Marcus Smart contributed 19 points of his own, and Kelly Olynyk came off the bench to score seven of his fifteen points in the fourth quarter. The Celtics are now just two games behind the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers for first place in the eastern conference and while Thomas said after an earlier season loss to the Cavs that they're just not at the same elite level, he may not agree with that statement now.
Elsewhere around the league the Denver Nuggets gave the Golden State Warriors a taste of their own medicine, tying an NBA record by hitting 24 three-pointers in a 132-110 upset win. The Warriors are known for their long range shooting, but Steph Curry had an off night and the hometown sellout crowd at the Pepsi Center in Denver was treated to a slice of history as the Nuggets tied the record for scoring beyond the arc set by Houston earlier this season, and sent Golden State to just their ninth loss of the year.
