Marquette University Athletics
Connecticut, Penn State Game Story
3/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 23, 2002
MILWAUKEE--CONNECTICUT 82, Penn State 64
By JR ROSS Associated Press Writer
MILWAUKEE (AP) - This counts as a close call for Connecticut.
After beating their previous five opponents by an average of more than 40 points, the Huskies struggled Saturday before holding fourth-seeded Penn State to 13 points over the final 15 minutes to win 82-64 in a Mideast Regional semifinal game.
Sue Bird scored 24 points, and top-seeded Connecticut will play the winner of Saturday's Kansas State-Old Dominion game Monday for a berth in the Final Four.
"I'm not sure they're going to let us play Monday night. We only won by 18," Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said wryly.
Connecticut (36-0) did not look like a team that had given up just 50.2 points a game and beaten its opponents by an average of 37.4 points.
The Huskies were fine but not spectacular offensively, led by Bird and the usual stable of scorers. But it was their defense that seemed to fail them at times.
Tanisha Wright caught Connecticut defenders flat-footed, driving and slashing for a team-high 18 points that included 8-of-10 shooting from the line.
And Jess Strom was 4-of-5 from 3-point range, helping the Lady Lions (23-12) hang tight. They allowed Connecticut to push its lead to 10 points just once in the first half and pulled to 55-51 with just under 15 minutes to play.
"I think we're a pretty good defensive team, and they made us look bad. They made us look real bad," Auriemma said.
But then the Huskies clamped down on defense, mixing zone and man-to-man to throw off Penn State.
"There were times when Connecticut took it to another level," Penn State coach Rene Portland said. "That's when the tiredness hit."
Connecticut went on a 21-7 run over the next nine minutes - including seven points from Bird and five from Diana Taurasi - and pushed its lead to 76-58.
Connecticut outrebounded Penn State 50-33, including 22 offensive rebounds.
Taurasi added 15 points for the Huskies and Asjha Jones scored 14. Tamika Williams had 13 points and 12 rebounds.
"When things are going right for you, it's east to play well, it's easy to win by 20," Bird said. "It's when things are going badly you find out as a team what you're made of."
The most remarkable thing for the Lions was they were able to keep close despite an off day from Kelly Mazzante, a sophomore guard who leads the country with a 25.2 scoring average.
Mazzante threw up anything and everything as soon as she got enough room between herself and the defender to put up a shot - 3-points falling away, jumpers off-balance and falling shots in the lane.
She shot 6-of-21, including 1-of-8 from 3-point range, and scored 15 points.
"We went into the game thinking, 'Attack, attack, attack ... score, score, score,"' Wright said. "You have to attack them just like they attacks you. It's just defensively we didn't do as good a job."
But Connecticut did enough to keep alive its hopes to match the 39-0 record Tennessee recorded in 1998 on its way to a national title.
"Was it a close call? I'm expecting every game in the tournament to be a close call," Auriemma said. "If they've not close calls, you shouldn't have the tournament. You should just name the winner right now."
