BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Connecticut is headed back to a familiar place - the women’s Final Four.
Breanna Stewart scored 21 points and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis added 17 to help top-seed UConn rout Kentucky 83-53 on Monday night and advance to a record sixth consecutive national semifinal.
The Huskies will face either Notre Dame or Duke in the national semifinals on Sunday in New Orleans. The Irish and Blue Devils play tonight. UConn (33-4) broke a tie with Stanford (2008-2012), LSU (2004-2008) and itself (2000-2004) by reaching the Final Four again.
It was the second consecutive season that UConn beat Kentucky in the regional finals. The Huskies topped the Wildcats by 15 last year 105 miles to the north of Bridgeport in Kingston, R.I.
This game wasn’t as close. Kentucky stayed close for the first 10 minutes with their “40 minutes of dread” defense. Then UConn turned up its own defensive intensity.
The Huskies trailed 23-22 with just nine minutes left in the first half. That’s when Stewart - honored as the outstanding player of the Bridgeport Regional - and UConn’s “no-name” defense took over allowing three points the rest of the half.
“We’re either right on point, we do everything right or we get a little bit off kilter and lose our composure a little bit,” UConn Coach Geno Auriemma said. “Once we got into our rhythm and our tempo, we just played good basketball.”
Kentucky missed 13 of its final 14 shots in the half with the only make coming when Jelleah Sidney banked in a three-pointer from the wing.
While UConn was playing lock down defense, Stewart was dominating on the offensive end. The 6-4 star, who was the national high school player of the year last season, scored nine points and had a vicious two-handed block during that closing run.
After Sidney’s three-pointer, Stewart calmly converted a three-point play. UConn led 48-26 at the half.
Kentucky couldn’t get within 20 in the second half.
The loudest cheer of the night from the sellout crowd of nearly 8,600 came when the video board showed highlights of Louisville’s upset victory over Baylor on Sunday night.
UConn’s only losses this season came to Baylor and three times to Notre Dame.
Stewart didn’t play well in most of those losses, but really has stepped her game up over the past few weeks. After struggling through the middle part of the season, the heralded first-year player has averaged 16.4 points since the start of the Big East Tournament.
It’s been an unusual season for UConn, which for the first time in 19 years didn’t win either the Big East regular-season or tournament title. Now the Huskies are two victories away from an eighth national championship.
This was the 19th time in the past 23 seasons that UConn had reached the regional final. They have made the Final Four 14 times overall, including the last six.
“I don’t know more things in sports that are more impressive,” said Kentucky Coach Matthew Mitchell of UConn’s streak. “They have talented players who are extremely well coached and work extremely hard.”
None of the regional final games during this current run have been close with only Rutgers coming within 10 in 2008. UConn’s lead ballooned to 36 points in the second half of this game. When the final buzzer sounded Mosqueda-Lewis jumped into the arms of Stewart to celebrate.
Auriemma got a gritty effort out of junior center Stefanie Dolson, who has a stress fracture in her right ankle and an injured left foot as well. She wore a brace on her left leg and a compression sock on her right one. While she only scored two points, she had 11 rebounds and four assists.
The loss brought to a close a record year for the Wildcats (30-5). Kentucky had the most victories in school history. Not bad for a school rich in basketball tradition on the men’s side. Still Mitchell was left searching for the school’s first trip to the Final Four.
NCAA Women
MONDAY’S GAMES BRIDGEPORT REGIONAL
Connecticut 83, Kentucky 53
SPOKANE REGIONAL
California 65, Georgia 62, OT
TODAY’S GAMES
NORFOLK REGIONAL All times
Central Notre Dame vs. Duke, 6 p.m.
OKLAHOMA CITY REGIONAL
Tennessee vs. Louisville, 8 p.m.
Sports, Pages 22 on 04/02/2013