The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
22-13
Connecticut (Second Round)
34-1
Women's Basketball ends season with NCAA Second Round loss to Connecticut, 89-55
03.25.2008 | Women's Basketball
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) -- Inside and out, Maya Moore was too much for Texas.
Connecticut's fabulous freshman scored 24 points and the Huskies shot a blistering 60 percent from the field to beat Texas 89-55 on Tuesday night in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The top-seeded Huskies advanced to the Greensboro Regional semifinals on Sunday against Old Dominion.
It's the 15th straight season top-seeded UConn (34-1) has advanced to the regional semifinals. Renee Montgomery added 17 points and Tina Charles had 15 for the Huskies, who routed Cornell 89-47 in the opening round.
Carla Cortijo scored 18 points and Earnesia Williams added 12 to lead the eighth-seeded Longhorns (22-13), who had won six of seven--including a 72-55 win over Minnesota in the first round.
Moore was everywhere on the floor, grabbing 12 rebounds and blocking three shots. She hit six of her first seven shots, including four 3-pointers en route to her first 20-point game since scoring 29 against LSU on Feb. 25. Texas had no answer for her.
Longhorns coach Gail Goestenkors is one of the rare coaches to have success against Connecticut. She led Duke to a 68-67 win in Hartford on Jan. 3, 2004, ending UConn's 69-game home winning streak. Then she coached the Blue Devils past the Huskies 63-61 in overtime in the regional finals at Bridgeport in the 2006 NCAA tournament.
It was the only loss by the Huskies in their last 34 NCAA tournament games in Connecticut.
Despite Goestenkors' recent success against Connecticut, Huskies coach Geno Auriemma wasn't worried.
"If we play our 'A' game, we're going to win," said Auriemma on Monday. "I like to be in the situation where, if we lose, it's because we didn't play well enough."
The Huskies certainly were at their best Tuesday night.
Connecticut jumped all over Texas, hitting 12 of its first 17 shots to go up 31-13 in the first 9 minutes. The Huskies were making either layups or 3-pointers in building the early lead.
Moore hit four 3s during that spurt and had 14 points before the midway point of the first half. The Huskies led 47-30 at the break, shooting 68 percent from the field (21-for-31).
Just as in their first round win over Cornell, the Huskies got layup after layup. Connecticut finished with 52 points in the paint.
"Coach just wants us to take it to them and be real aggressive," said Charles. "On the board he had just to make sure to rebound and get points in the paint and I think we did that tonight."
Auriemma, not happy with the Huskies' defensive effort in the first half, got them to clamp down in the second half. Texas scored just six points in the first 10 minutes of the second period as Connecticut put the game away.
The Longhorns were trying to advance to the regional semifinals for the first time since 2004.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Texas concluded its' 22nd all-time appearance in the NCAA Championship, which is tied for the 3rd-most trips to NCAAs all-time ... Texas has registered a 32-21 mark in all-time NCAA games (a .603 winning percentage)
- Texas ends its season with a 22-13 mark, going 6-2 down the stretch... 22 wins are the most for the Longhorns since going 22-9 in 2004-05
- Texas is now 12-7 in all-time NCAA second-round games ... UT head coach Gail Goestenkors is 10-4 in career NCAA second-round games (at Duke prior to this year)
- redshirt sophomore guard Carla Cortijo had a team-high 18 points for Texas, registering double-figure scoring for the 19th time and for the third time in four games
- redshirt sophomore forward Earnesia Williams netted 12 points, registering double-digit scoring for the 14th time
- the 67.7 first- half shooting percentage by Connecticut (21-31) was the best FG percentage in a half by a Texas opponent on the year .... Connecticut's final margin of victory was the largest of the year by a Texas opponent
- junior post Ashley Lindsey finished with one block against Connecticut, ending the season with a team-best (93) ... That ranks as the second-most single season blocks in UT history ... The record is held by Ellen Bayer who had 97 in 1988-89
- sophomore guard Brittainey Raven did not score in double-figure points for only the second time in 35 games ... Raven was in double-figure scoring 33 times -- a team high
- in its last two NCAA showings, Texas exited in the second round ... in 2005 as a No. 3 seed in NCAA Midwest Region, Texas defeated #14 seed Oral Roberts (64-47) and lost to #6 seed Georgia, 70-68 (Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas)
- Texas finished the season 6-8 against Top 25 competition - going 3-4 in its last seven meetings against Top 25 foes . in games against top 10 foes on the year, Texas went 2-4 .... UT defeated No. 8/8 Baylor (61-51, Feb. 12 in Austin) and No. 10/10 Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. (65-50, March 2)
