Connecticut and Notre Dame will meet again, this time in St. Louis at the Final Four.

        The Big East Conference rivals were the only No. 1 seeds to survive the first four rounds of the NCAA tournament and face each other for the third time this season in the national semifinals Friday night.

        Underdogs filled out the other half of the Final Four bracket, which has Southwest Missouri State and its super scorer, Jackie Stiles, playing Purdue, the 1999 national champion. Southwest Missouri State advanced as a No. 5 seed. Purdue was seeded third.

        UConn, trying for its second straight championship and third since 1995, split its first two games with Notre Dame, each winning at home. Notre Dame won 92-76 on Jan. 15 to end Connecticut's 30-game winning streak and earned its first No. 1 ranking a week later. Connecticut won 78-76 in the Big East championship game on Sue Bird's basket at the buzzer.

        Before this season, Connecticut had been able to frustrate Notre Dame by getting 6-foot-5 Ruth Riley in foul trouble. But the Huskies could not handle her in either game this season. Riley had 29 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks in the Notre Dame victory and 23 points in the loss.

        Connecticut has a strong presence inside with Tamika Williams, Asjha Jones and Swin Cash, though none is as polished as Riley. Bird is one of the nation's top point guards and freshman Diana Taurasi has been outstanding in recent games.

        Taurasi's play has helped Connecticut withstand the loss of its two first-team All-Americans from last season, Svetlana Abrosimova and Shea Ralph. Abrosimova has been out since Feb. 1 with a foot injury. Ralph tore an ACL in the Big East final. The Huskies haven't lost since Abrosimova went down.

        The Final Four will give the country another look at Stiles' considerable talent. She's the NCAA career and single-season scoring leader and the only thing that has stopped her in the tournament so far was a mild concussion in the Lady Bears' first-round win over Toledo.

        Stiles has averaged 35 points in the last three tournament games and scored 41 in a victory over top-seeded Duke in the West Regional semifinals.

        Purdue will try to counter Stiles with its Final Four savvy

        Katie Douglas, Camille Cooper and Kelly Komara all played on the '99 championship team. They've been joined by an outstanding freshman class headed by Shereka Wright and Shalicia Hurns, who combined for 24 points and 16 rebounds in the regional final win over Xavier.

        The Boilermakers suffered what could have been a damaging blow when starting point guard Erika Valek, also a freshman, blew out a knee in the regional semifinal victory over Texas Tech. But Komara moved from shooting guard to the point against Xavier and came through with 20 points, five assists and four steals.

Xavier Stories

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