Sports

Lady Huskies wolf down second title

Cougar Pause

Christian Schmidt

To absolutely no oneis surprise, Connecticut won its second consecutive National Championship on Tuesday, beating Tennessee 73-68 to win the schoolis fourth title. Connecticut, the nationis top-ranked team for most of the season, was not favored to win the game despite a 36-1 record coming into the contest.

The Lady Huskies took a five-point lead into the locker room at halftime and never trailed in the game, although the score stayed close for the duration. The Volunteers used an 8-0 run to cut the lead to five at 67-62 with two minutes remaining, but Connecticut responded and kept Tennessee from making further headway.

The key to Connecticutis victory was a potent fast-break offense that led to easy baskets for the Huskies. Tennessee struggled to mount a solid offensive effort against a suffocating Connecticut defense, and the Lady Volunteers trailed by as many as 13 points.

Junior guard Diana Taurasi led Connecticut in scoring with 28 points, despite a slow start. Taurasi played through pain from a sore ankle and back that have troubled her in the last several games.

Tennessee senior guard Kara Lawson had an outstanding game in defeat, scoring 18 points and falling just short of winning a national title for her team.

The game marked the third time the two opponents had faced each other in the national title game. In 1995 and 2000 Connecticut defeated the Lady Volunteers.

Semifinal games

Three of the Final Four teams were No. 1 seeds, and the fourth, Texas, was a No. 2 seed. One might think that would make for some good games, and in this case, it most certainly did. Both eventual winners trailed at halftime, and both games were interesting until the end.

But in the end, the expected outcomes proved accurate. Connecticut and Tennessee, led by two of the best coaches in the game, showed their mettle and advanced to the final game.

Vols take out Duke

For most of the season, Duke looked like the second-best team in the nation. But during the NCAA tournament, the Lady Blue Devils looked anything but invincible, struggling to victories in their first four games.

Tennessee was the polar opposite. Playing the first four rounds on their home court in Knoxville, Tennessee, they beat their opponents by an average of more than 20 points a game.

And that difference became apparent in the second half of the game as Tennessee pulled away. The Lady Volunteers trailed by two points at halftime but outscored the Lady Blue Devils 39-27 in the second half to secure a 66-56 victory and advance to the final game.

Tennesseeis Gwen Jackson led her team with 25 points, 13 coming in the second half. Dukeis Alana Beard, one of the nationis best players, could not lead her team to victory despite a 29-point effort from the junior forward.

Huskies chase down iHorns

It was Texas, not Connecticut, that came into this game with the nationis longest current winning streak. Of course, earlier this season the Lady Huskies had put together an NCAA record 70-game winning streak that was snapped in the finals of the Big East Conference Tournament.

So perhaps there was reason to think the Longhorns, led by juniors Stacy Stephens and Jamie Carey, had a pretty good chance of taking out Connecticut, the team widely favored to win the national championship.

Diana Taurasi, the Connecticut junior and Wade Trophy recipient, had different ideas. Despite a sore back and ankle, Taurasi scored 26 points to help lead her team to a 71-69 victory over Texas.

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