TORONTO — The old Maple Leaf Gardens on a late December evening is not a place you would expect to find the most dominant women’s college basketball program in history, though the one-time cathedral of hockey has hosted its share of icons over the years, including the night of March 29, 1966, when a 24-year-old Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) defeated Toronto’s George Chuvalo in a unanimous decision.
But here were the UConn Huskies in Toronto, not as mighty as they have been in the past, now ranked No. 17 after three early season losses. Their opponent at Mattamy Athletic Centre (the current tenant for Maple Leaf Gardens) was Toronto Metropolitan University, a quality Canadian basketball program and undefeated on the season in their neck of the woods.
How did the UConn women find themselves in Toronto against a non-NCAA opponent? Part history, part happenstance, and a full-time commitment to reward their seniors with a homecoming game. The history: When Canadian national team member Natalie Achonwa was a senior at Notre Dame in 2014, her school was looking for local help to get a homecoming game somewhere close to Achonwa’s hometown of Guelph. TMU head coach Carly Clarke had coached Achonwa in high school and helped the Irish end up playing Duquesne on…
