Huskies Fight Off Minnesota; Advance to Third Consecutive National Championship Game

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NEW ORLEANS, LA (April 4) – Naismith Player of the Year Diana Taurasi scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team past Minnesota 67-58 and into the Huskies third consecutive NCAA Tournament Title Game on Sunday evening in front of 18,211 at the New Orleans Arena.

With the victory, the Huskies improve to 30-4 on the season, while the Golden Gophers complete their season with a 25-9 mark. The Huskies have now reached the thirty-win plateau for the fifth consecutive year and the 10th time in the last 11 seasons.

UConn will square-off with Tennessee, a 52-50, winner over LSU in the evening’s first semifinal match up, in the 2004 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship Game. Game time is set for 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 6 and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN.

Taurasi’s 18-point effort boosted her career-total to 2,139, placing her fourth on UConn’s all-time scoring list. Taurasi nailed a free throw with 16:50 remaining in the second half to pass former UConn great Rebecca Lobo’s fourth-place total of 2,132.

The Huskies maintained their lead for the entire second half, but could not distance themselves from the pesky Gophers. Minnesota would cut the deficit to two points on two separate occasions in the second stanza, but UConn was able to answer with big plays down the stretch.

With the Huskies clinging to a 58-55 edge with 3:20 remaining, sophomore Ann Strother hit a huge 3-pointer that extended the Husky lead to six, and Minnesota would get no closer. Strother’s long ball broke a 2:30 scoring drought by both teams and was the effective back-breaker to the Gophers.

Senior point guard Maria Conlon dropped in 10 points and grabbed four rebounds in 34 minutes of action, and sophomore Willnett Crockett scored nine points, six of those coming on put backs off the offensive glass. Jessica Moore scored six points and snared eight rebounds and did a remarkable job of containing Kodak All-American Janel McCarville down low.

Minnesota’s other All-American Lindsay Whalen, was held to just 11 points on 3-of-11 shooting. Whalen did dish out seven assists in 38 minutes of action.

The Huskies won the battle of the boards on Sunday, out-rebounding their opponent 36-to-25, including a 24-to-17 edge on the defensive glass.

Taurasi started the scoring with her only 3-pointer of the first half just 15 seconds into the contest, but Minnesota would battle back to take a 9-8 lead at the 15:10 mark on a Janel McCarville lay up. The Huskies countered with a 10-0 run, capped off by a Taurasi driving lay up, over the next 3:10 to seize an 18-9 edge with 11:30 left in the first session. UConn would take its largest lead of the first half, 29-18, after Taurasi converted a three-point play at the 6:42 mark. Minnesota would not lie down though, as the Gophers whittled the lead down to eight, 37-29, at intermission.