Huskies, Vols left standing

ATLANTA -- With her offense down the stretch and her defense on the final play, Diana Taurasi put Connecticut back in the women's national championship game.

Taurasi, bothered by a sore ankle and back, still managed to score 26 points and keep the Huskies on course for their third title in four years with a 71-69 victory over Texas on Sunday night.

UConn (36-1) will meet Tennessee in the championship game, the third time the teams have met for the title. Earlier, the Lady Vols beat Duke 66-56 in the other semifinal to advance to Tuesday night's final.

The seemingly inevitable meeting didn't come easily.

The Huskies closed the game with an 11-3 run to dispatch the Longhorns (29-6), who were in the Final Four for the first time since 1987.

Taurasi's 3-pointer from well behind the arc gave the Huskies the lead for good, 67-66 with 2:07 remaining.

Appropriately, Taurasi made the key defensive play, too, knocking the ball away from Alisha Sare as the Texas player attempted to go up for a jumper just before the buzzer.

Taurasi grabbed the loose ball and held up her right index finger as the horn sounded. Yes, the Huskies still have a chance to finish No. 1.

Taurasi, who had not practiced since the regional final in an attempt to heal, appeared a bit tentative and pulled off few of the flashy moves that made her the best player in the country.

But she came through when her team needed her most.

With Texas leading 66-60, Taurasi zipped a great no-look pass from outside the arc to Willnett Crockett standing alone under the basket, sparking the game-ending run.

On UConn's next possession, Taurasi worked into the lane, made the shot and drew a foul, leading to a three-point play that drew the Huskies closer.

Finally, she put them ahead to stay with the long 3-pointer.

Tennessee 66, Duke 56

Tennessee is back in the women's national championship game for the 10th time, and Gwen Jackson had everything to do with it.

Jackson scored 13 of her 25 points in the final 6:08 and Brittany Jackson added a key basket in that stretch as Tennessee beat Duke.

The Lady Vols (33-4) avenged a 76-55 loss to Duke on Nov. 24. They'll try for their seventh championship Tuesday night.

Duke (35-2), which had won 15 straight, was denied a second trip to the finals despite 29 points from All-American Alana Beard, who went past 2,000 points for her career.

Gwen Jackson also grabbed 15 rebounds to lead Tennessee's 41-30 edge on the boards.

After Tennessee seemed to have all the momentum, Beard single-handedly kept the Blue Devils threatening at the end.

Her three-point play off a spin move in the lane cut the lead to 57-54 with 1:13 left. Then she ripped the ball from Tennessee's Ashley Robinson, who had intercepted a pass, and made a layup to draw her team to 60-56 with 55.7 seconds to play. But Duke got no closer.

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