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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, March 31, 2008

Top-seeded UConn advances

 •  No Davidsons, just Goliaths

Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Connecticut freshman Maya Moore soars and scores against Old Dominion. Moore had 25 points and 11 rebounds in a 78-63 victory.

KIICHIRO SATO | Associated Press

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GREENSBORO, N.C. — Maya Moore slipped into the post and stuck back a teammate's miss. She pulled up and knocked down mid-range jumpers. She drifted outside and buried 3-pointers.

There might not be a shot Connecticut's young star doesn't have — and nobody in this NCAA tournament has stopped her so far.

The freshman phenom had 25 points and 11 rebounds in her second straight 20-point postseason performance to lead top-seeded UConn past Old Dominion, 78-63, in a Greensboro Regional semifinal yesterday.

"When you play teams that you aren't really familiar with, it's hard to get a feel for" them, Moore said. "Maybe at times, they've lost me, and I'm getting open 3s. It's something that I've been doing throughout the season, and I'm going to continue to try to do (it).

"I'm not going to lose confidence just because we're in the tournament," she added. "I'm going to keep trying to score and attack teams (because) as we go on, the road's going to get tougher and tougher."

Renee Montgomery added 13 points for the Huskies (35-1), who never trailed, shot 47.5 percent and put the game away with a 20-1 run early in the second half. They earned their 14th straight victory, beat the Lady Monarchs for the second time this season and claimed their third straight berth in the round of eight.

Next up for coach Geno Auriemma's powerhouse program: second-seeded Rutgers, which beat George Washington 53-42 in the other semifinal, with a spot in the Final Four on the line. UConn and Rutgers split in their two meetings during the Big East Conference season.

Tiffany Green had 15 points and 10 rebounds for fifth-seeded Old Dominion (31-5), which went 6 1/2 minutes between field goals and held the Huskies without a field goal for the final 9 1/2 minutes. That too-little-too-late rally made the final score respectable in its first regional appearance since 2002 — when UConn beat the Lady Monarchs in the Mideast Regional finals.

"This is a perfect storm," Old Dominion coach Wendy Larry said. "They are so deep, and their transition game is so good. ... You have to play a perfect game to compete with them."

The unquestioned star of this one was Moore, who took the Big East by storm in winning the league's player of the year as a newcomer.

Coming off a 24-point game in a second-round win against Texas, Moore nearly had her 11th double-double by halftime, heading to the break with 12 points and seven rebounds.

"When you think about some of the great players in the women's game ... when it's all said and done, Maya Moore will be one of those people because she's so transitional, she can play inside and out, she's got that 3-point jump shot in transition down pat," Larry said. "Not only does she have size, not only does she have athleticism, she's an arsenal of weapons."

Her latest huge game propelled the Huskies to their third straight double-digit victory — their two previous tournament wins came by an average of 38 points — and helped them take the next step toward their first Final Four appearance since winning the 2004 national championship, the fifth in school history.

Charde Houston, Tina Charles and Brittany Hunter scored 10 points each for the Huskies, who had two players suffer minor injuries. Auriemma said Charles (shoulder) and Montgomery (twisted ankle) most likely will play in tomorrow night's game.

"I'll examine it a little bit later, and fix what needs to be fixed," Auriemma said.

The Huskies took command of this one early in the second half, moments after Old Dominion made it a single-digit game for the last time on a 3-pointer 30 seconds in by leading scorer T.J. Jordan. It was her only basket of the game.

Moore answered with a 3 of her own from the top of the key, pushing the lead into double figures for good.

"If they score on us, we score on them," Moore said. "It's never, 'They score, we don't.' "

Jessica Canady had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Lady Monarchs. Jordan, who made just one of her five shots, wasn't the only scorer to struggle against a UConn defense that forced 15 turnovers and held Old Dominion to 38.8 percent shooting.

Shahida Williams added 10 points but was just 5 of 14 from the floor, and Jazzmin Walters — the heroine of the Lady Monarchs' second-round upset of Virginia — finished with five on 2-of-9 shooting. The Lady Monarchs had only one of their five assists in the second half.

RUTGERS 53, GEORGE WASHINGTON 42

Essence Carson scored 25 points as the second-seeded Scarlet Knights (27-6) turned back the sixth-seeded Colonials (27-7).

Epiphanny Prince added 12 points for Rutgers.

Jessica Adair scored 16 points to lead George Washington, which fell to 1-3 in regional semifinal games in the tournament.

OKLAHOMA CITY

REGIONAL

AT OKLAHOMA CITY

TENNESSEE 74, NOTRE DAME 64

Candace Parker matched her career best with 34 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, pushing the top-seeded Lady Vols (33-2) past the Fighting Irish (25-9).

The 6-foot-3 All-American put back Nicky Anosike's miss and then converted a three-point play off a transition jumper to send Tennessee into the lead with a 14-0 run early in the second half, and the Lady Vols never looked back on their way to the round of eight for the 23rd time.

Becca Bruszewski and Charel Allen each scored 16 points for Notre Dame.

TEXAS A&M 77, DUKE 63

Patrice Reado scored all 17 of her points in the second half and the second-seeded Aggies (29-7) overcame the loss of standout Danielle Gant to beat the third-seeded Blue Devils (25-10).

Takia Starks added 15 points for Texas A&M, which extended its winning streak to 12 games.

Chante Black had 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead Duke, which committed 19 turnovers and never managed to get into an offensive rhythm against a team that led the Big 12 in scoring defense.