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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, April 1, 2009

UConn, Oklahoma gain Final 4

Associated Press

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Connecticut forward Maya Moore shoots over Arizona State's Gabby Fage in the Trenton Regional final. Moore scored 25 points to help the Huskies win, 83-64, and reach the Final Four for the second straight season.

MEL EVANS | Associated Press

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TRENTON, N.J. — The Connecticut express is headed to St. Louis for the Final Four, a trip the perfect Huskies have seemed destined to make all season.

Maya Moore scored 25 points and undefeated UConn beat Arizona State, 83-64, last night in the Trenton Regional final to advance to the national semifinals for the second straight season and ninth time in the last 14 years.

Renee Montgomery added 22 points and Tina Charles had 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Huskies (37-0), who will face Stanford on Sunday in a rematch of last season's national semifinal. The Cardinal won that game before losing in the championship to Tennessee.

"I said last year we'd be back," Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said. "We are going back (and) it's ironic that we're playing the same team. We're pretty excited right now. It's good, it's all good."

UConn hasn't lost since falling to Stanford and is two wins away from the program's third perfect season.

"They look like as good a team as last year," Auriemma said. "If we do the same thing we did last year it's not going to be good enough. We'll have to be better than we were last season."

Danielle Orsillo scored 18 to lead Arizona State (26-9), which played the Huskies as competitively as just about any other opponent this season but still saw its season end in the regional final for the second time in three years.

After a three-point play by Orsillo, Moore scored five straight points, including a 3-pointer that made it 34-24. The Huskies led 37-28 at the half. ASU got no closer than eight thereafter.

OKLAHOMA 74, PURDUE 68

OKLAHOMA CITY — Courtney Paris will get the chance to back up her national championship guarantee in the Final Four.

Paris amassed 19 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks as the top-seeded Sooners (32-4) surged ahead in the second half to beat the Boilermakers (25-11) in the Oklahoma City Regional final to earn the second trip to the Final Four in school history.

The Sooners will face Louisville, an upset winner against top-seeded Maryland, in the national semifinals in St. Louis.

Danielle Robinson scored 23 points for Oklahoma, which has made it this far for the first time since losing to Connecticut in the 2002 championship game.

Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton led Purdue (25-11) with 20 points and 13 rebounds.

ALL-AMERICA TEAM

Courtney Paris of Oklahoma is the first four-time All-American in women's college basketball, and sophomore Maya Moore of Connecticut is a unanimous selection in her second appearance on The Associated Press' All-America team.

The other first-teamers are seniors Renee Montgomery of UConn, Angel McCoughtry of Louisville and Kristi Toliver of Maryland.

DeWanna Bonner of Auburn, Jayne Appel of Stanford, Marissa Coleman of Maryland, Tina Charles of Connecticut and Jantel Lavender of Ohio State make up the second team. The teams were selected by the same 45-member national media panel that votes on the weekly Top 25.