DAYTON, Ohio – Diana Taurasi saw to it that Boston College had no chance to win on another buzzer-beater.
Taurasi scored 18 of her 26 points in the first half and Connecticut dominated from the start, beating Big East rival Boston College 70-49 Sunday in the East Regional semifinals.
Jessica Moore gave top-seeded Connecticut (34-1) an inside presence with 17 points and Barbara Turner added 14 for the Huskies, who beat Boston College (22-9) for the second time this season and ended the Eagles’ charmed run through the NCAA tournament.
Fifth-seeded BC had advanced to the round of 16 for the first time by beating Old Dominion and Vanderbilt on last-second shots by Amber Jacobs. But with Taurasi scoring eight points, UConn closed the first half with a 14-2 run to open a 44-25 lead.
Jacobs, who had averaged 24 points in the first two rounds, scored only four on 2-for-13 shooting. Jessalyn Deveny led the Eagles with 14 points, Clare Droesch had 11 and Becky Gottstein 10.
But even another big game by Jacobs might not have saved the Eagles, not the way Taurasi was playing.
Taurasi shot 10-for-17 and is now averaging 27.3 points for the tournament. She was 2-of-5 from 3-point range, grabbed 12 rebounds and looked good even when she missed.
Purdue 66, Notre Dame 47
DAYTON, Ohio – Erika Valek scored 19 points and helped key an early second-half spurt as Purdue beat rival Notre Dame 66-47 Sunday in the East Regional semifinals.
The second-seeded Boilermakers (29-5) advance to meet defending champion and top-seeded Connecticut for a spot in the Final Four.
As for 11th-seeded Notre Dame, its upset streak came to a screeching halt. The Fighting Irish were the lowest remaining seed left in the tournament after beating No. 6 Arizona in the first round and No. 3 Kansas State in the second round.
Shereka Wright had 12 points and 10 rebounds, Mary Jo Noon added 12 points and Beth Jones scored 10 points for the Boilermakers, who won their eighth straight.
Valek, at 5-foot-6 the smallest player on the floor, closed the half by hitting a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left to give Purdue a 33-29 lead.
That seemed to set the tone as the Boilermakers’ defense slammed the door on the Fighting Irish as they opened the second half on a 22-4 run.
Notre Dame (21-11), which had lost to Purdue 71-54 at home on Jan. 4, managed just one field goal over the first 5 minutes of the second half. Purdue started to hurry the ball down the floor for easy baskets in transition.
After Valek hit a foul shot, she threw an assist pass to Noon for a 15-foot jumper as the shot clock expired. Valek then hit a 10-foot jumper to make it 38-29. The Fighting Irish’s Megan Duffy tossed in a left-handed layup in traffic before Purdue scored on six consecutive possessions during an 11-0 run.
LSU 69, Louisiana Tech 63
STANFORD, Calif. – Temeka Johnson could see LSU was in trouble, so she threw aside her protective goggles and led the Tigers to the brink of the Final Four.
Johnson had eight points, nine assists and eight rebounds despite two broken bones near her right eye, and Aiysha Smith scored 19 points as top-seeded LSU beat Louisiana Tech 69-63 on Sunday in the West Regional semifinals.
Freshman Seimone Augustus scored 14 points for the Tigers (30-3), who trailed by 17 points early in the second half before a dramatic 16-0 rally led by Johnson.
LSU took the lead for good with 41/2 minutes left, then snapped the fifth-seeded Lady Techsters’ 29-game winning streak with fearless scoring down the stretch.
Texas 73, Minnesota 60
STANFORD, Calif. – Texas’ Jamie Carey scored 18 points on the same court where she starred as a freshman for Stanford, leading the Longhorns into the West Regional finals with a 73-60 victory over Minnesota on Sunday night.
Second-seeded Texas won its 16th straight game to advance to the regional final for the sixth time under coach Jody Conradt, who took the Longhorns (28-5) to back-to-back Final Fours in 1986 and ’87.
The Longhorns also got 14 points and 12 rebounds from Heather Schreiber.
Kim Prince had 15 points for No. 6 seed Minnesota (25-6), which reached the round of 16 for the first time in school history with an upset victory over Stanford but couldn’t overcome a poor performance on offense.
The Longhorns’ defense held Minnesota leading scorer Lindsay Whalen to 13 points, eight below her average, on 4-for-13 shooting and she also committed six of her team’s 14 turnovers.
Bulky 6-foot-2 sophomore center Janel McCarville added 10 points and 12 rebounds, but was not the dominant inside presence she had often been this season.
The Maples Pavilion fans who would have preferred to have the hometown Cardinal still playing in the tournament had the next best thing in Carey.
Carey, who declared as far back as seventh grade she wanted to go to Stanford, made a school-record 81 3-pointers as a Cardinal freshman but transferred to Texas when school doctors ruled her ineligible after a series of concussions.
The Longhorns cleared her and the guard from Thornton, Colo., left Stanford.
One fan held a red sign reading “Maples Belongs to Jamie,” while several others wore her red No. 11 Stanford uniform. She received a standing ovation when she was introduced.
Carey took the ball hard to the basket and aggressively jumped out into the passing lane for one of her two steals when the game was tight in the second half.
The Gophers never got in sync on offense and were held without a field goal for 61/2 minutes in the second half. They shot 38 percent.
Nina Norman’s 3-pointer with 10:32 left gave Texas a 49-42 lead, and the Longhorns answered with clutch baskets – several on second-chance opportunities – whenever Minnesota made shots to keep the game close.
Kala Bowers converted two free throws with 6:01 left for a 61-52 lead to help the Longhorns pull away.
In the first half, Minnesota routinely forced things on offense with the shot clock winding down, missing many shots from close range.
The teams played for the first time since two meetings in 1978.
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer and her staff were in the stands for the game, but certainly didn’t expect to be watching the action at their own regional.
AP-ES-03-30-03 2336EST
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