March 26, 2001 (Pittsburgh) - The Huskies and Techsters went toe to toe for the second time in the 200-01 season. The Huskies winning 71-55 in Ruston, La. earlier in the season. This would be the first meeting between the schools in the postseason...The prize in this game at the Mellon Center (former Civic Arena) would be a trip to the Final Four in St. Louis.
Guard play and rebounding would be big keys, and the Huskies used it to their advantage. Using a 12-0 run mid first half to go up from 11-10 to 23-10 as Tech went cold for nearly six minutes. Then when the Lady Techsters got to within 5 at 29-24, Diana Taurasi and the Huskies closed with 8 straight points to take a 37-24 lead into the locker room. The freshman from Chino, California leading the way with 7p-9r & 4a.....The lead the smallest in their tournament run of 13 and UConn shot 46% in the opening stanza...
The second half UConn kept La Tech in the rear view mirror as Taurasi, Tamika Williams and Swin Cash took care of its business. Dee with back to back threes to open a 51-36 lead that grew to 20 with 5 minutes to play. Taurasi, the Big East Tournament MVP was named the Regional MOP as well...24 in the Sweet 16, 17 & 10 in the Elite 8...Williams also had a double-double with 18-10 off the bench and Cash 10p-8r as UConn owned a 46-32 advantage on the boards as the Huskies won going away 67-48. The UConn defense stifling as Tech shot just 29% in the game.
You may remember that two of the best Huskies were out with season ending injuries. Svetlana Abrosimova a foot injury suffered at Tennessee, and Shea Ralph with yet another ACL tear in the Big East Final...It put a lot of pressure on the junior class and Taurasi...Who dominated thru the first half of their National Semi Final loss to Notre Dame with a 49-37 lead. Of course that all changed in the final 20 minutes. Taurasi went 1-15 against the Irish, but all the blame went on the Juniors. Needless to say, it fueled the Huskies in 2002...