Nova can't slow down Huskies

HARTFORD - Villanova tried to slow down UConn's pace all night. In the end, though, the No. 4 seed Wildcats couldn't stop the top-seeded Huskies as UConn defeated Villanova 72-42 in the semifinals of the Big East Women's Basketball Championship at the XL Center Monday night. The Huskies will advance to play Louisville in the tournament finals Tuesday night.

UConn point guard Renee Montgomery said playing against Villanova - a team known to slow down the tempo of games and force opponents to play at their speed - was a battle all night long.

"They are extremely hard to play against because they are constantly moving, constantly cutting, constantly making screens," Montgomery said. "You have to make sure you communicate or else they're gonna catch you making a mistake."

UConn forward Maya Moore led all scorers with 17 points, while center Tina Charles added 16 points and guard Kalana Greene pitched in 11. Montgomery bounced back from a 3-point quarterfinal performance to score 12 for the Huskies. Villanova's Tia Grant came off the bench to finish with a team-high 13 points.

Much of the first half was a battle of two vastly different offensive approaches, pitting UConn's inside scorers against Villanova's perimeter attack. The Huskies held a powerful 30-to-2 advantage in points scored in the paint, while the Wildcats knocked down six 3-pointers to the Huskies' 2 in the first half. Ten of the Huskies' first 12 made baskets in the game came from layups.

UConn (32-0) looked in control early on, pushing the lead to double digits at 22-11 on layup from Charles with just under 10 minutes to go in the first half. Villanova (19-13) fought back to tie the game at 26 with a Siobhan O'Connor 3-pointer from the right side that capped off a 15-4 run. The Huskies held the Wildcats scoreless over the first half's final five-and-a-half minutes as they went on an 11-0 run, pushing the score to 37-26 entering the break. During that run at the 3:09 mark, Moore flew in seemingly from out of nowhere and blocked a 3-point attempt by Villanova's Lisa Karcic in the right corner. This sent the ball over the UConn bench and the XL Center crowd into a frenzy. The 3-pointer would have brought Villanova back to within four points.

"I think sometimes [Maya's] defense and her off-the-ball stuff gets somewhat overlooked because of how good she is when she does get the ball," said UConn coach Geno Auriemma. "I think Maya Moore is what makes us a great team. Everybody else on our team makes us a really really good team, but Maya Moore makes us a great team."

Freshman guard Tiffany Hayes, who finished as the only starter, was praised for her defense after the game for holding Villanova forward Laura Kurz scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting. Just a night before, in the quarterfinals, Kurz torched Notre Dame for 21 points. Hayes' performance helped snap streak of 27 straight games scoring in double figures. Auriemma said he gave Hayes a few pointers before the game, but for the most part she was on her own against Kurz, who came into the game leading Villanova with 18.1 points per game.

"I felt like I couldn't even breathe," Kurz said. "I could not get an easy shot off. She definitely did a great job keying in on me."

The Wildcats went cold from the floor in the second half, shooting just 22.2 percent (6-for-27) from the field, including just 2-for-16 from 3-point range. A Tia Grant jumper from the left side with 3:56 left was the only field goal Villanova made over the game's final minutes, as UConn continued to pull further away.

"In the second half, I just thought their defense was smothering and we couldn't really get a shot off," said Villanova coach Harry Perretta. "Eventually you just break down at some point against their talent. That happened in the second half."

The Huskies, meanwhile, turned up the pressure offensively, shooting 60.9 percent (14-for-23) in the second half. This put the game out of reach before the Wildcats could get another chance to go on a run of their own.

"Believe it or not, the most pressure you can put on Villanova is by scoring most of the time you have the ball," Auriemma said. "The pressure on them to make shots all of a sudden puts pressure on them. And that's better than any defensive pressure you can put on them. And once we started to do that, that's what turned the game around."

UConn was able to press the ball against Villanova and wound up with a 12-to-0 advantage in fastbreak points. Moore, who finished the game with a career-high six steals, was responsible for setting up 10 of those fastbreak points with steals and rebounds, either finishing herself or getting the ball ahead to an open teammate. For Moore, trying to read Villanova's offense was the key.

"Because they move the ball very fast and sometimes that can work against you if you don't, you know, see the defender coming," Moore said. "So I just tried to anticipate a few times, having active hands and, you know, it got a couple of fastbreak opportunities."

The Huskies will face Louisville (29-3) Tuesday night in the tournament finals (7 p.m., ESPN). The Cardinals edged Pittsburgh 69-63 in the semifinal nightcap Monday. The Huskies blew out Louisville 93-65 earlier this year in an ESPN Big Monday showdown at Gampel Pavilion.