Women's Hoop Final Four Set
Top-Seeds UConn, Irish Join Upstarts Purdue, SW Missou State
East Regional
Connecticut 67, Louisiana Tech 48 Diana Taurasi dominated with her shooting and court savvy as Connecticut rolled into the women's Final Four again with a 67-48 victory over Louisiana Tech on Monday night.
Taurasi, a freshman who didn't even start until defending national champion Connecticut lost its two returning All-Americans to season-ending injuries, had 17 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in the East Regional final in Pittsburgh.
Tamika Williams added 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Huskies (32-2) advanced to their fifth Final Four under coach Geno Auriemma. They won national titles in 1995 and last season.
Ayana Walker led the Techsters (31-5) with 15 points.
Mideast Regional
Purdue 88, Xavier 78 Kelly Komara played a superb game filling in for injured point guard Erika Valek, and Katie Douglas hit two critical 3-pointers while battling through an off night shooting for Purdue (30-6).
Komara, forced to move from shooting guard to the point after Valek tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in the Boilermakers' victory over Texas Tech on Saturday, had 20 points, five assists and four steals. Douglas added 19 points.
Taru Tuukkanen had 23 points for Xavier (31-3), which entered the game with a 21-game winning streak after upsetting top-seeded Tennessee 80-65 on Saturday. Nicole Levandusky added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Musketeers.
Midwest Regional
Notre Dame 72, Vanderbilt 64 Ruth Riley scored 32 points as Notre Dame pulled away in the second half to beat Vanderbilt.
Riley, a first-team All-American center, had 22 points in the second half as Vanderbilt's Chantelle Anderson, a second-team All-American, sat out much of the half because of foul trouble.
Alicia Ratay had 17 points, and Kelley Siemon added 16 for Notre Dame (32-2), which set a school record for victories in a season. Zuzana Klimesova led the Commodores (24-10) with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Anderson had 14 points.
West Regional
SW Missouri St. 104, Washington 87 Jackie Stiles scored 32 points despite sitting out 4 1/2 minutes early in the second half and fouling out with 3:25 to play to carry Southwest Missouri State to the Final Four.
Stiles, the leading scorer in women's NCAA Division I history, had 73 points in two games in Spokane to become the first woman to top 1,000 in a season in Division I.
Tara Mitchem added 23 points for the Lady Bears (29-5), and Erika Rante had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Loree Payne scored 17 points for Washington (22-10).
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