IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Tennessee Volunteers shocked the top-seeded Connecticut Huskies here Monday night to win the Midwest Regional and bust into the Final Four in Cincinnati.
UT whipped UConn, 91-81, before 6,000 fans in the finals of the Midwest Regional.
''I think they got frustrated,'' said UT All-America Chamique Holdsclaw. ''I had never played against a Connecticut team that was scared. But tonight (in the second half when UT made a second run after UConn had closed the deficit to 53-52) they were scared.''
UT (27-10) revenged a pasting that UConn (33-1) put on them in January.
''When we played them in January, we were still considered the defending national champions,'' said Abby Conklin, UT's senior center. ''The pressure was on us then. They played with fire, and they played loose. But tonight we had the fire. The pressure was on them. They were 33-0.''
The Tennessee pep band blasted the ''Rocky Top'' melody all during the first half, and the University of Connecticut got into lock-step with a rocky start Monday night and never could overcome it.
''We felt we had to get physical in the paint, and body-up Kara Wolters,'' Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said. ''We wanted to keep her off the blocks .... We went away from our defensive system totally, the one we had used all season. Our defensive intensity was excellent tonight.''
She said Tennessee had moved from ''pretenders to contenders'' for the national title. That was a reference to a newspaper article that had been pasted up all over the the UT locker room.
What was it Conklin had said earlier this season, when the Vols were 10-5 and there was some doubt they'd even make the tournament field?
''If there's a championship in us, that woman will get it out of us,'' she had said.
And indeed Summitt did.
''I just don't think we were prepared for what Tennessee was doing to us tonight,'' UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. ''I have to take responsibility for that. We didn't do a good job handling their pressure. That, and their second-chance
rebounds off the offensive board hurt us.''
The mood after Monday's game was reminiscent of Kansas getting knocked out of the men's tournament this year, because the Jayhawks, too, were such a favorite of pundits and pool participants.
The Final Four gained a titan, but lost the titan in the process. UConn's undefeated season was ruined by its nemesis, Tennessee, which beat UConn in the Final Four in a tremendous overtime game last year.
The Lady Vols will be going for a fifth NCAA Championship under Summitt. They won their fourth championship last year.
UConn trailed by as many as 15 points (42-25) in the first half. The Huskies were down 12 (45-33) at half.
But they stepped up their offensive execution early in the second half - getting the ball inside to All-American Kara Wolters and clearing out for terrific off-guard Nykesha Sales and finding a way to get Carla Berube open - and cut the deficit to one (53-52) with 12 minutes to play.
UConn had a chance to tie at 53, but missed a free throw.
Most of UConn's run came with UT All-America Chamique Holdsclaw on the bench with three fouls. As soon as she came back into the game, UT went on a run of its own (7-0) to build the lead back to 10 (62-52).
UConn chipped away (62-58), but UT answered.
Especially big was a three-point field goal by UT point guard Kellie Jolly to make it 70-67 with five minutes to go.
What was it Summitt had said on Saturday?
''We're a different team than the one Connecticut beat (72-57) back in January.''
Jolly, who didn't play in that game because she was recovering from knee surgery, ran the offense beautifully Monday. She had 19 points. Holdsclaw led the Vols with 21. Thompson had 15, and Conklin 14.
UConn's Sales led all scorers with 26 points. Wolters had 17; Rita Williams 14 and Berube 10.
Notre Dame 62, George Washington 52
Old Dominion 53, Florida 51
Stanford 82, Georgia 47
FINAL FOUR WEEK EVENTS
TIM SULLIVAN COLUMN
TENNESSEE (91)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Holdsclaw 33 8-15 5-6 3-11 3 4 21
Conklin 26 5-10 3-4 3-6 2 3 14
Thompson 29 3-5 9-12 5-9 3 2 15
Elzy 29 3-8 1-2 1-4 1 1 8
Jolly 35 6-11 5-8 0-0 3 3 19
Johnson 25 3-5 1-3 3-11 0 5 7
Butts 2 0-1 1-2 0-0 0 0 1
Greene 15 2-4 0-0 0-1 1 1 5
Laxton 5 0-2 1-2 0-0 1 1 1
Stephens 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 30-61 26-39 15-42 14 20 91
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Percentages: FG-.492, FT-.667. 3-Point Goals:
5-9, .556 (Conklin 1-2, Elzy 1-1, Jolly 2-4,
Greene 1-2). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 4
(Thompson 3, Johnson). Turnovers: 16 (Johnson 6,
Jolly 3, Conklin 2, Greene 2, Holdsclaw 2,
Laxton). Steals: 8 (Thompson 3, Holdsclaw 2,
Johnson 2, Elzy).
CONNECTICUT (81)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Berube 35 4-8 1-3 2-4 4 4 10
Sales 31 11-21 2-2 5-14 2 4 26
Wolters 25 7-10 3-6 7-11 1 3 17
Duran 32 2-11 0-2 3-4 0 5 5
Williams 38 4-16 6-8 1-3 4 4 14
Sauer 17 1-2 1-3 0-4 0 2 3
Hansmeyer 20 3-6 0-3 4-5 0 3 6
Rose 2 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 2 0
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TOTALS 200 32-74 13-27 22-46 12 27 81
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Percentages: FG-.432, FT-.481. 3-Point Goals:
4-16, .250 (Berube 1-2, Sales 2-6, Duran 1-5,
Williams 0-3). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 4
(Sales 2, Wolters, Williams). Turnovers: 17
(Duran 4, Williams 4, Sales 3, Wolters 3, Berube,
Hansmeyer, Sauer). Steals: 10 (Williams 5, Sales
3, Rose, Wolters).
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Tennessee 45 46 - 91
Connecticut 33 48 - 81
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Technical fouls: None. A: 4,257. Officials: John
Morningstar, Jack Riordan, Lisa Mattingly.
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