AAC WOMEN

UConn (34-0) routs Louisville

UNCASVILLE, Conn. - New league, same result. It’s another championship for Connecticut.

Breanna Stewart scored 20 points and top-ranked Connecticut beat No. 3 Louisville 72-52 on Monday night to win the inaugural American Athletic Conference tournament.

“You have a goal on October 15 when you start and the whole process is about that. New league, new coaches, new venue that was all exciting for us,” Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma said. “I don’t know how many conference championships the American is going to host in their lifetime, but we won the first one and there’s something special about that.”

It’s the 19th conference tournament championship for the Huskies, who won their first 18 in the Big East Conference.

With the victory, Connecticut (34-0) becomes the 14th team to enter the NCAA Tournament without a loss. It’s the sixth time that the Huskies have accomplished that feat. They’ve gone on to win the national championship four of those years.

Connecticut got off to a quick start, scoring the first eight points of the game. Louisville trailed 28-20 with 6 minutes left in the first half before Stewart took over.

Her three-point play started a 12-2 run to close the half. Stewart, the tournament’s MVP, had seven points during the burst as UConn led 40-22 at the break.

“We always try to go on a run,” Stewart said. “We wanted to go into halftime on a good note and stepped up our game.”

Louisville (30-4) scored the first five points in second half, but could get no closer because of Stewart and the Huskies.

“It’s going to take 40 minutes of very, very good basketball in order for anybody to beat them,” Louisville Coach Jeff Walz said. “That’s one thing I’ve been preaching to our players the entire time. You can’t play for 20, can’t play for 30, it takes 40 minutes of basketball.”

Bria Hartley added 16 points and Stefanie Dolson had 10 points and 16 rebounds for the Huskies, who have won 40 consecutive games- the third-longest streak in school history. It was the third game in a row that UConn put a team away by the end of the first half.

Shoni Schimmel led Louisville with 20 points, but was 7 for 25 from the field.

BIG 12 Sims leads Baylor

OKLAHOMA CITY - Odyssey Sims overcame an ankle injury and scored 19 points to help No. 9 Baylor defeat No. 7 West Virginia 74-71 in the Big 12 women’s championship game.

Niya Johnson also had 19 points and made four free throws in the final minute, and Nina Davis added 16 points for the Lady Bears (29-4), who have won 15 of their past 16 games. Davis, a freshman, was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.

Bria Holmes scored 24 points and Linda Stepney added 10 for West Virginia (29-4), which had won 12 consecutive.

The teams shared the regular-season Big 12 title and split their games during the regular season, with each winning on the other’s home court.

West Virginia slowed Sims, who had scored 48 and 39 points in the regular season games, but the Bears supported her Monday by shooting 48 percent overall.

In other tournament championship games Monday, Marist trailed Quinnipiac by 17 in the first half of the Metro Atlantic championship in Springfield, Mass. But Sydney Coffey and company found another gear. Coffey scored 23 points, Casey Dulin added 14 points and seven assists and Marist (27-6) rallied past Quinnipiac (21-12) for a 70-66 victory and its ninth conscutive MAAC title. Brittany McQuain had 20 points and 12 rebounds for Quinnipiac. . . . Shereesha Richards had 26 points, Sarah Royals added 19 points and eight assists and top seed Albany (28-4) beat second-seeded Stony Brook (24-8) 70-46 to win the America East title in Albany, N.Y.

Women’s Division I automatic bids SCHOOL TOURNAMENT Albany America East Baylor Big 12 Chattanooga Southern Connecticut American Ath. Fordham Atlantic 10 Marist Metro Atlantic Nebraska Big Ten Notre Dame Atlantic Coast Southern Cal Pacific-12 Tennessee SEC Tenn.-Martin Ohio Valley Winthrop Big South

Sports, Pages 19 on 03/11/2014

Upcoming Events