Published: January 12, 2009 12:30 am         

Montgomery turned herself into superstar

MORGANTOWN — It should have been quiet time at the Coliseum. The echoes of the crowd that had been there to watch the unbeaten University of Connecticut women’s basketball team embarrass West Virginia had died down an hour or so earlier.

It was Saturday night and most of the 3,167 masochists who had paid their way in to witness this execution had gone their way. But at the Blue Gate there were 50 or 60 so fans milling around, chattering and laughing, not yet ready to make their way out into the cold of night to get on their church bus for the return ride to St. Albans.

These were West Virginians all, but West Virginians donning Connecticut jerseys and sweatshirts, waiting for one of their own, one who just may be the best women’s college basketball player in America today.

Her name is Renee Montgomery and if the name is familiar it should be; four years ago she was leading South Charleston the state girls high school championship.

At the time, she wasn’t considered the best player in the state. She wasn’t even considered the best player on her team, that honor belonging to Alexis Hornbuckle, a marvelous athlete who went to the University of Tennessee and led the Vols to national titles in her junior and senior seasons, becoming the No. 4 player selected in the 2008 WNBA draft.

But while Tennessee cast its eyes on Hornbuckle, Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma was enraptured with the slick 5-7 guard who was her teammate, a player who has achieved so much more than he ever dreamed she would to the point that he now says she’s the best guard in college basketball today.

“We never thought, ‘Wow, this kid has a chance to be the best guard in America in the next three years,’” Auriemma said. “I don’t think there is anything anybody did. It is all on Renee, her passion for the game. If every kid loved the game as much as Renee did, they would all get to be a lot better than they are.”

Auriemma understood why there was such hype around Hornbuckle.

“Alexis got so much attention, rightfully so, she was a great player,” Auriemma said. But there was something there, something you couldn’t see, something you couldn’t quantify, something Auriemma just sensed.

“I saw the leadership qualities in Renee that I felt would be important for the position,” Auriemma said. "She had the personality type I felt would help us, because that's what I look for at that spot. The rest would be up to her. It's all culminated with her being the best guard in the country.

I haven't seen anyone better or play better in big games. But that it would end up that way was never in the picture when we recruited her.”

Montgomery’s numbers are staggering, especially when you consider the tradition and success of the Connecticut women’s program under Auriemma.

The story is told on the cover of the Huskies’ media guide:

“Five national championships, nine Final Fours, 30 Big East titles”

The names are a virtual history of women’s college basketball: Nykesha Sales, Kerry Bascom, Diana Taurasi, Kara Wolters, Rebecca Lobo …

Let us pause there for a moment for that is the six players who have scored 2,000 career points for UConn.

The seventh could be Renee Montgomery, who after the 28 she laid on WVU Saturday, possesses 1,603 points with 15 regular season games left. Toss in a few in the Big East Tournament and the NCAA in the postseason and she would have to stay healthy and average somewhere around 20 points a game to get there.

But she already has put her stamp on greatness at UConn. She has 510 assists and 210 steals to go with her 1,603 points, making her one of only three players in the school’s history to rank in the Top 10 in those categories. The other two are Svetlana Abrosimova and Shea Ralph.

Oh, yeah, she also is one of only two players in school history to score 1,600 points with 500 assists and 200 steals, the other being Jen Rizzotti.

“I don't know what to say about that," Montgomery said. "Everything is just going well for me. I try not to think about all the other stuff. I'll look back on it when I graduate. I think we have just one goal in mind and nothing else really matters."

That is exactly what Auriemma meant when he talked about the qualities you can’t measure.

Montgomery is unique.

“I never got the sense (she wanted to) be better than Alexis or be better than so and so,” Auriemma said. “I don’t know that Renee Montgomery compares herself to anybody. I’ve never heard that. She has never talked about it.”

But Auriemma isn’t reluctant to make a comparison.

“She’s like that quarterback at Florida,” he said, referring to Tim Tebow. “I just wish she was as big as him.”

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.

     

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