IOWA CITY, Iowa - With six minutes to go and the scored tied at 69, the coach of the undefeated and top-seeded team in the NCAA Women's Tournament looked his players in the eyes and said in an even tone:
''Now, we're going to play Connecticut basketball and see if they can play with us.''
UConn did.
Illinois couldn't.
Final: UConn 78, Illinois 73.
For a team that hadn't counted many close games among its 32 victories going into Saturday's game, the Huskies played with remarkable poise - no, make that remarkable desperation - just when it looked as though they would lose.
The Fighting Illini's Krista Reinking had just hit a three-pointer to tie the score and suddenly the crowd of 5,000 sounded like 15,000, with most of them rooting for the Big Ten team playing in the Big Ten arena.
''It wasn't a familiar feeling for us,'' said Nykesha Sales, UConn's nonpareil shooting guard. ''But we had been watching the other games on TV, men's and women, and we saw the No.Ç1 seeds falling. I know myself that I got angry when the crowd was pulling against us. It made me play even harder.''
And here's how the Huskies responded.
Sales' 12-foot runner in the lane, Carla Berube driving layup on the fastbreak, Berube 8-foot pull-up jumper in the lane, Illinois timeout.
UConn, 75-69.
With 3:45 to play, the game wasn't over, but the point was made.
It's going to take more than a close game to tame the Huskies.
And Berube was the key.
Without Berube, No. 1 seed UConn (33-0) would have been the victim of a shocking upset.
''Great players make great plays at crunch time,'' Auriemma said.
''Carla was fabulous,'' Sales said. ''She isn't scared of anything. She showed what a player shows when they are determined to win.''
Berube had loosened the collars of the heavy favorites, and the Huskies were able to play their game.
''I kind of felt like I needed to get something done, and that was a good time to start,'' Berube said. ''We needed to get some big plays on offense, and I felt like that I could make those plays when I needed to.''
Illinois had the ball under its basket and a chance to tighten up the 78-73 game with a minute to play, but Sales stole the pass and any chance of an Illini win.
Tennessee 75, Colorado 67
Tennessee is going back to the regional finals, and the Lady Vols will find a familiar face waiting when they get there.
Next up for the Lady Vols is yet another showdown with top-ranked Connecticut in Monday night's regional finals.
They've met the last two years in the Final Four, each winning once, and Connecticut won 72-57 in January of this season.
Chamique Holdsclaw scored 14 of her 20 points in the second half of Saturday's win.
Tennessee (26-10) took the lead for good five minutes into the second half of the see-saw game, then made the shots it needed to keep Colorado (23-9) from pulling back ahead.
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