| 2004 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16: March 27, 2004 |
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By CHUCK SCHOFFNER
AP Sports Writer
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Defense saved Connecticut from a stunning upset.
Diana Taurasi scored 21 points and UConn survived a sloppy game offensively to beat feisty UC Santa Barbara 63-55 Saturday in the East Regional semifinals.
The second-seeded Huskies (28-4) advanced to the regional final against top-seeded Penn State on Monday night by holding UCSB to 32 percent shooting and frustrating Gauchos 6-foot-8 center Lindsay Taylor.
UConn, winner of the last two national championships and three of the last four, is now just one victory from a record fifth straight trip to the Final Four.
Barbara Turner added 13 points for UConn, while Jessica Moore had 10 points and 10 rebounds and led the defensive effort against Taylor. UConn kept bodies on her throughout the game and forced her into tough shots. She managed just five points on 2-for-11 shooting.
April McDivitt, who played her first three seasons at Tennessee, led Santa Barbara with 20 points and kept the 11th-seeded Gauchos (27-7) threatening until the final minute. Kristen Mann scored 12 for UCSB, which made 11 steals and forced 17 turnovers but simply couldn't hit the shots it needed to pull ahead in the second half.
Taurasi, on the other hand, came through when needed, despite shooting 9-for-21. She also had five rebounds and with four assists, she became UConn's career leader with 640. Jennifer Rizzotti held the old record of 637.
Connecticut did not lead by double digits until Ashley Battle's two free throws made it 45-34 with 9:16 left. But even then, the Gauchos never let UConn or their boisterous fans at the Hartford Civic Center relax.
McDivitt's line-drive 3-pointer from the top of the key pulled UCSB to 45-39 with 7:28 to play, plenty of time to keep hacking away at the lead. But Taurasi hit a baseline jumper, then nailed a turnaround shot to put the Huskies back up by 10.
Taylor's basket inside cut the lead to 51-44, and the Gauchos had a chance to draw even closer after Moore missed the front end of a one-and-one. But Taurasi stole the ball from McDivitt to end that threat, then came around a screen and hit a fadeaway from 17 feet to make it 53-44 with 1:18 remaining.
McDivitt made one last 3, her fifth of the game, to get the Gauchos within six, but Connecticut finished it off with free throws and the Husky faithful finally could relax and celebrate.
UCSB reached the round of 16 for the first time, but did not seem the least bit intimidated by the setting, the heavily partisan Connecticut crowd of 14,253 or the "UConn" across the white jersey of the opponent.
The Gauchos held a one- or two-point lead five times in the first half and it was tied at 22 after McDivitt made a free throw with 5:35 left. But UConn scored the final six points of the half for a 28-22 lead and UCSB was never ahead again.
UCSB did twice get to within two in the second half, the last time at 36-34
with 11:42 remaining. Battle then hit a 3 to start a 9-0 run that put the
Huskies up by 11.
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