Tuesday, March 27, 2001
Connecticut 67, Louisiana Tech 48
By ALAN ROBINSON
AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH — Lose a star, plug in another. Win a championship, go after another. The years and players may change, yet it almost wouldn't be a women's Final Four without Connecticut.
Diana Taurasi, a freshman who didn't even start until UConn lost its two returning All-Americans, dominated with her scoring and court savvy as the Huskies rolled into the women's semifinals again with a 67-48 victory over Louisiana Tech on Monday night.
This will be UConn's fifth trip to the Final Four under coach Geno Auriemma since 1991. The Huskies, who won national titles in 1995 and last season, play Notre Dame for the third time this season in the NCAA semifinals Friday night in St. Louis.
The Irish, 72-64 winners Monday over Vanderbilt in the Midwest final, knocked UConn out of the top spot in the national rankings 92-76 on Jan. 15. The Huskies won the rematch 78-76 in the Big East championship game March 6.
“Those were tough games and this will be a tough game,” said Sue Bird, who hit the game-winning shot in the Big East final.
Taurasi, who combines the discipline that Auriemma demands with a sleek game polished on the Los Angeles playgrounds, had 17 points, 10 rebounds and four assists Monday as the second game of the season between the longtime women's powers turned into a romp.
“I don't know, I've never gotten nervous,” said Taurasi, the nation's top high school player a year ago. “I'm just out there playing with four other girls, playing carefree.
“When I was growing up, I never played with girls — they used to whine all the time — so I'd just go to the playground and play with the guys.”
Taurasi, who had 24 points in Saturday's 72-58 victory over North Carolina State, took over the game late in the first half, keying a half-ending 8-0 run that made it 37-24 with two driving layups and an assist on Tamika Williams' layup.
Then, after the Lady Techsters made their last push by cutting the lead to nine, Taurasi hit consecutive long 3-pointers to help increase the lead to 17 at 53-36.
“She's really come out of her shell during this tournament and I love her for it because she's gotten us back to the Final Four,” teammate Swin Cash said of Taurasi, who has started only a third of UConn's games yet was chosen as the outstanding player in the Big East tournament and the regional.
Tamika Williams added 18 points and 10 rebounds as the defending national champion Huskies (32-2) opened a 23-10 lead and never were pressed in beating the Lady Techsters (31-5) for the second time this season.
At the end of the game, Bird leaped excitedly in the air and the Huskies pulled on their regional championship caps at midcourt to begin singing — what else? — “Who Let the Dogs Out?”
The Huskies have won 15 in a row even while losing stars Svetlana Abrosimova and Shea Ralph to season-ending injuries. Ralph dressed in her UConn warmup suit Monday, often leaping off the bench to yell encouragment or offer advice.
“We're going back to the Final Four and that's hard to do,” said Bird, who had nine points and five rebounds. “I think a lot of people didn't believe we could do it when we lost our two All-Americans.”
This Eastern Regional final was supposed to be closer — much closer — than UConn's 71-55 victory in Ruston, La., but it wasn't, not with Taurasi knocking down 3-pointers, making beautiful entry passes for layups and shutting down Tech off-guard Brooke Lassiter.
Lassiter had 19 points in Saturday's 78-67 victory over Missouri but was limited to seven points on three shots and three rebounds, rarely getting an open look or an open lane to the basket.
“Connecticut just plays this game a little better than we do now,” coach Leon Barmore said. “The question all season was where the scoring would come from. Our strength is our inside game, and we went there and we went there, but defensively they just pushed us off the ball.”
Takeisha Lewis, who had 27 points and 17 rebounds Saturday, also was a non-factor against UConn's relentless man-to-man defense, finishing with seven points on 3-of-15 shooting and only four rebounds.
The Lady Techsters' inability to get its stars open shots led them to shoot only 28.6 percent, 16-of-56.
“I thought if we could keep it close to the 10-minute mark we had a chance to pull an upset — it would have been a great upset — because they do have a short bench,” said Barmore, whose team had won 19 in a row. “So what they did at the end of half was discouraging.”
UConn and Louisiana Tech have won a combined four NCAA titles, yet were meeting in the NCAA tournament for the first time. Auriemma and Barmore are the only men to coach an NCAA women's championship team.
LOUISIANA TECH (48)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Walker 40 5-12 5-6 4-13 1 3 15
Ford 13 2-5 1-2 1-2 0 3 5
T Lewis 31 3-15 1-2 1-4 1 5 7
Lassiter 37 2-3 2-2 0-3 1 2 7
Perry 39 2-6 0-2 1-6 7 0 6
Obaze 20 1-9 0-0 0-1 0 2 3
Bibbs 20 1-6 3-4 2-3 0 1 5
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 16-56 12-18 9-32 10 16 48
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.286, FT-.667. 3-Point Goals:
4-8, .500 (Lassiter 1-1, Perry 2-5, Obaze 1-2).
Team rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 2 (Walker,
Perry). Turnovers: 11 (Lassiter 3, T Lewis 3,
Bibbs, Ford, Obaze, Perry, Walker). Steals: 4 (T
Lewis 3, Perry).
CONNECTICUT (67)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Jones 24 2-12 1-2 1-6 1 3 5
Cash 31 5-9 0-2 4-8 2 2 10
Schumacher 24 2-5 0-0 2-2 2 4 4
Taurasi 35 6-14 2-2 1-10 4 1 17
Bird 36 4-11 0-0 1-5 1 0 9
Johnson 23 1-4 2-2 0-2 2 1 4
Williams 27 5-6 8-9 4-10 1 3 18
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 25-61 13-17 13-43 13 14 67
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.410, FT-.765. 3-Point Goals:
4-15, .267 (Schumacher 0-1, Taurasi 3-9, Bird
1-2, Johnson 0-2, Williams 0-1). Team rebounds:
3. Blocked shots: 4 (Jones, Schumacher, Taurasi,
Bird). Turnovers: 10 (Cash 4, Jones 2, Taurasi 2,
Bird, Williams). Steals: 3 (Cash, Schumacher,
Williams).
__________________________________
Louisiana Tech 24 24 - 48
Connecticut 37 30 - 67
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 9,397. Officials:
Sally Bell, John Morningstar, Connie Pardue.
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Connecticut 67, Louisiana Tech 48 
