STORRS — He didn't have a choice. Not with the way Rutgers was playing. The Scarlet Knights were aggressive. They were physical. They were running.

And they were scoring.

Barbara Turner picked up two quick fouls, trying to play like Rutgers. She was playing that way because no one else on the Huskies was. Not Renee Montgomery.

Not Ann Strother.

No one.

"We had people who were either hyper or in a coma," Geno Auriemma said. "I didn't know what was going on."

Auriemma had to sit Turner down. But then, a few minutes later, he had to put her back in. If he didn't, the game just might have been a rout. For Rutgers.

It almost was.

You see, the Scarlet Knights probably are one of the most athletic teams that UConn plays this season. Just as good as North Carolina (and we all remember what happened in that game). Better than Tennessee. And LSU. Way better than Oklahoma. In the past, Rutgers had only defenders. Now, they have scorers.

And they came into Gampel Pavilion Tuesday night full of the kind of intensity that wins big games like this one. Games that could mean the difference between finishing first in the Big East Conference or some place a lot lower.

And it that intensity made the difference in a 60-56 Rutgers win.

"It hurts real bad," said Turner, who finished with a team-high 17 points. "It's very disappointing. The bottom line is, we didn't make the plays."

Over the first

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10 minutes, Turner was the only Husky matching the emotion level of the Scarlet Knights. But that intensity cost her two quick fouls and a trip to the bench.

An 11-0 Rutgers run quickly changed all that. It forced Auriemma's hand. Turner got up and did her best to bring the intensity back to the court with her, hoping that it would rub off on her teammates. If it didn't, she would just have to keep trying to do it herself.

"I told coach there was no way we were losing this game," Turner said. "We still had fight left in us."

Make that Turner still had fight in her. She ended the Scarlet Knights' run and cut into their double-digit lead with a basket down low upon her return. She pumped her fist and screamed as she ran back down court, trying to inspire her teammates. Trying to motivate them.

On this night, especially in the first half, she was all the emotion the Huskies had. Turner screamed in distress at Mel Thomas when Thomas didn't feed her the ball after she posted up Michelle Campbell in the low blocks. But when Ketia Swanier got her the ball moments later, she drew the foul and made both free throws, pulling the Huskies within 21-19 with four minutes left.

"We need to go and play like our (Big East) title's on the line," Turner had said before the game.

She did. No one else followed suit.

"It's frustrating," Strother said. "Going into the game, we felt that everyone was excited and had a lot of aggressiveness. But when the game started, for whatever reason, we were flat."

Rutgers wasn't. For the last 11 years, ever since C. Vivian Stringer arrived and their 1995-96 media guide proclaimed them the "Jewel of the East," the Scarlet Knights have been trying to make that lofty prediction come true. This just might be the year.

Last season Rutgers ended the Huskies' string of 11 consecutive Big East regular-season titles, a fact that Auriemma spent the better part of the last few days reminding his players about. So it was surprising that Rutgers, not UConn, came out Tuesday like gangbusters, trying to win on UConn's home floor for the first time.

It wasn't just surprising. It was shocking.

And if it wasn't for Turner's nine points at the half, the 27-21 Rutgers lead could have been a lot bigger. "Barbara kept us in the game for long periods of time," Willnett Crockett said. "When you have someone playing like that, you have to go with her."

But Turner couldn't do it alone. Not against Cappie Pondexter and Matee Ajavon. Last March in the Big East tournament, Pondexter stuck her finger in Auriemma's chest after the Huskies' victory. This time around, she stuck a dagger in his heart, scoring 18 points and making two monster 3-pointers, each one answering a bomb from Strother.

A late Husky run — the emotions finally kicked in — cut a 14-point Rutgers lead down to two, on a Turner basket with 1:27 left, but UConn got no closer.

"I can't even explain what happened in the first 32 minutes," Auriemma said.

No one could.

"I tried to provide the energy, it just wasn't enough," Turner said. "You have to give (Rutgers) credit, but we lost this game. We didn't get beat."

Contact Chris Elsberry at celsberry@ctpost.com