Monday, March 27, 2006
Duke defeated Michigan State, 86-61.
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) -- Barbara Turner wasn't about to go home.
The Connecticut senior hit a fadeaway 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds remaining and two defenders on her to give the second-seeded Huskies a 77-75 win Sunday night over Georgia in the Bridgeport Regional semifinal.
They will play top-seeded Duke in the regional final Tuesday night.
Turner had a career-high 33 points and nine rebounds to help the Huskies (32-4) rally from 15 points down. With the victory, UConn pushed its NCAA winning streak in the state of Connecticut to 29 games.
Tasha Humphrey led Georgia (23-9) with 27 points, but picked up her fourth foul with 8:45 to play. In the closing minutes, Turner drove inside and scored six point on Humphrey. Turner's layup with 1:42 left gave UConn a 71-68 lead.
Cori Chambers tied it for the Lady Bulldogs with a 3-pointer on Georgia's next possession. Sherill Baker then gave the Lady Bulldogs their first lead of the half, making the second of two free throws to make it 72-71.
Ann Strother countered with a 3-pointer for UConn and the lead swung back the Huskies' way. But it didn't last long. With defenders looking inside for Humphrey, Chambers hit again from 3-point range with 20.3 seconds left to silence the partisan UConn crowd of 9,091.
After a UConn timeout, Turner got the ball on the right wing and, unable to drive inside with two defenders blocking her way, she fired up the winner.
Strother finished with 13 points and Renee Montgomery added 13 for UConn.
Alexis Kendrick had 14 points for Georgia.
Duke 86, Michigan State 61
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- Monique Currie scored 17 points to lead top-seeded Duke (29-3) over Michigan State.
The Blue Devils had an answer for every Michigan State run early on -- then ran away with the game in the second half and led by as many as 27 in the closing minutes.
Currie was one of six Blue Devils in double figures. Alison Bales, Duke's career blocks leader dominated inside and gave the Spartans (24-10) few second chances. Seven of her eight rebounds were on the defensive end and helped get the Blue Devils' transition off and running with every Michigan State miss. Duke had 18 points off the fast break and outscored the Spartans 48-22 in the paint.
Mistie Williams had 13 points and a season-high four steals for the Blue Devils, who scored 23 points off turnovers.
The inside combination of Bales and Williams helped neutralize Liz Shimek, MSU's career scoring and rebounding leader. Shimek finished with five points. Victory Lucas-Perry had 17 points to lead the Spartans, last year's NCAA runner-up.
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