Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma says Maya Moore has earned the right to have fun on the basketball court.
She was enjoying herself on Sunday, scoring 26 points and grabbing 12 rebounds to lead top-ranked Connecticut to its 84th consecutive win, an 81-51 rout of LSU.
''She made a couple of plays there at the end that will be in the highlight film for a long, long time,'' Auriemma said. ''I had a little conversation with her today, and it's just going to be that kind of season.''
Tiffany Hayes had 20 points and seven assists and Bria Hartly added 15 points for the Huskies (6-0), who broke open what had been a 10-point game with a 12-2 run to open the second half.
LaSondra Barrett had 12 points, all in the first half, and Adrienne Webb added 11 for LSU. The Tigers (4-4) finished this tournament 2-1.
''UConn's defense in the second half was really good,'' LSU coach Van Chancellor said. ''We just couldn't get into our offense.''
The Huskies need just four more wins to tie the Division I record set by UCLA's men in the early 1970s. They are on course to get their 88th straight win on Dec. 19 against No. 7 Ohio State in New York.
Chancellor said he doesn't see the Buckeyes beating the Huskies.
''Ohio State is going to have a hard time finding someone to guard Maya Moore,'' he said. ''But the world champs, the Seattle Storm, is going to have the same problem.''
UConn won its three games in this weekend's World Vision Challenge by an average of 44 points.
Moore finished with 2,324 career points, just 22 from tying Tina Charles for the school's scoring record.
She had 16 points in the half, and five of her 12 rebounds, including one under 8 minutes into the game that gave her 1,000 for her career. She joins Tina Charles and Rebecca Lobo as the only players in school history with 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
''I really try to embrace (rebounding),'' she said. ''It's the competitor in me as well. If I have the ability to do it, I want to go out and get it.''
Barrett kept LSU in it early and a layup by Taylor Turnbow cut the lead to seven at 35-28.
It was 46-36 at the break, before Hayes opened the second half with a 3-pointer to start the run that put the game away.
Moore put an exclamation point on the win when she caught a pass from Stefanie Dolson in mid-air and went under the basket to hit a reverse layup. That was part of a 15-0 run that made the score 79-46. As the crowd roared, Moore smiled all the way back down court.
''When I'm having fun, I'm usually smiling, laughing, into it, excited,'' she said. ''When we work hard and we're all playing together, it's a lot of fun.''
The Huskies held LSU to 36 percent shooting, 24 percent after intermission. UConn has now gone 233 straight games without allowing an opponent to shoot over 50 percent from the field. Boston College was the last to do it, on March 8, 2004.
Connecticut is 6-1 against LSU, which made its first visit to Storrs.
Auriemma is now 56-21 against other coaches in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
