Doty Finally Getting Comfortable

Point Guard Caroline Doty has had a rocky road back to the court. She's suffered knee injuries and setbacks, struggled to find her rhythm and her confidence and now, 24 games into the season, the junior sharpshooter finally appears to be comfortable.

Doty led the Huskies with 15 points in Tuesday's hard-fought 56-46 win over Louisville, including 5 of 11 from behind the arc. It was UConn's closest win since November 21 when they beat Stanford by 10 points. Afterwards, coach Geno Auriemma couldn't have sounded more thrilled.

"Caroline Doty had the best game she's had since she was a sophomore," he said according to the Hartford Courant. "I didn't think she was going to be able to play that much because she was hurting at practice and at shoot-around she didn't feel great physically."

"So I'm thrilled that she was able to get that much out of it, given that it would've been just as easy for her to just say, `I can't go tonight' or `I can't play as much.' I think the best thing that came out of [Louisville] was the way Caroline responded to not being 100 percent."

Instead, Doty played 35 minutes -- a season high -- and hit a critical 3-pointer late in the game to stifle a Louisville comeback.

"We've got to keep working the ball around and not play like our head's on fire, as Coach would say," she said. "We've just got to stay composed and know that they're not going to back down."

Auriemma rested Doty Thursday in anticipation of a physical game against Georgetown on Saturday.

Doty has played (and started) 23 of 24 games this season, is averaging 6.7 points, 21.4 minutes, and 2.1 rebounds. She's shooting .404 from the floor and .400 from three.

It's probably not the way she envisioned it, but after a rough start, things finally seem to be coming together. With six games left in the regular season and the postseason tournaments looming, this is fantastic news for the Huskies.

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