UConn, Tennessee reach Final Four

Both the Huskies and Lady Vols struggled in regional final wins.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Connecticut’s Maya Moore struggled to get open all night against Rutgers’ smothering defense. Then, given a rare open look from long range, the fabulous freshman shot the Huskies back into the Final Four.

Moore hit a tie-breaking 3-pointer with less than three minutes left to propel top-seeded UConn past the No. 2-seeded Scarlet Knights 66-56 Tuesday night in the Greensboro Regional championship.

Renee Montgomery and Ketia Swanier each scored 15 points to lead the Huskies (36-1), who rallied from a 14-point deficit to win their 15th straight game and reach their ninth Final Four — but first since winning the 2004 national championship.

Moore finished with seven points — just her second single-digit performance of the season — but her final basket couldn’t have come at a better time. With the game tied at 49-all, she took a feed at the top of the key and, with two-time Big East defensive player of the year Essence Carson sagging off of her, pulled up and swished a 3 to put UConn ahead to stay.

Matee Ajavon scored 18 points to lead Rutgers (27-7), the defending Greensboro Regional champion which was denied its second consecutive Final Four berth.

Tennessee 53, Texas A M 45

OKLAHOMA CITY — Even with an injured shoulder, Candace Parker was still able to lift Tennessee into another Final Four.

Parker scored 26 points and returned after dislocating her left shoulder to lead the Lady Vols out of a second-half deficit for a win over Texas A&M in the Oklahoma City Regional final.

She twice left the game in the first half with the injury and she didn’t return until about halfway through the second half. She scored six of the Lady Vols’ points in an 8-0 run as they overcame a 42-37 deficit, all while wearing a brace to stabilize her left shoulder.

She scored only eight points in the second half, but it was enough to push the Lady Vols (34-2) ahead when combined with a sturdy defensive effort that kept Texas A&M (29-8) scoreless for a five-minute stretch.

Even after returning from the locker room with the shoulder wrapped, she shot an airball on her first jumper from the foul line and then couldn’t convert a layup off a lob at the right block.

She turned a second alley-oop attempt into a successful layup, and that got the Lady Vols’ run going. Shannon Bobbitt followed with two free throws, and Parker hit two of her own to put Tennessee ahead 43-42 with 3:44 to play. She went 1-for-2 on two successive trips to the foul line to stretch the lead to three.

After a free throw by the Aggies’ Takia Starks, Parker lost the ball in the lane but was able to recover and pass to Alexis Hornbuckle for a deep 3-pointer that gave the Lady Vols a 48-43 edge with 48.8 seconds left.

Hornbuckle and Bobbitt each hit two free throws in the final minute to seal the win.

Starks scored 12 to lead Texas A&M, A’Quonesia Franklin had 11 and Danielle Gant finished with 10.

Hornbuckle added 14 points for the Lady Vols.