Quest for perfection

Connecticut will try to finish undefeated -- again

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Connecticut is seeking perfection. Oklahoma wants to cap an incredible resurgence with a national title.

It'll be a great finish for one team in the women's NCAA national championship game Sunday.

Connecticut advanced by dismantling rival Tennessee 79-56, while Oklahoma beat Duke 86-71 in Friday night's semifinals in front of 29,619 at the Alamodome -- a record for a women's college basketball game.

UConn (38-0) will be aiming for its third national championship and a claim to the title of the best women's college team ever.

Oklahoma, meanwhile, which nearly disbanded a moribund program in 1990 and was just 5-22 in coach Sherri Coale's first season, is searching for its first national championship in its first title game appearance.

Few have stayed close to Connecticut this season. And given the Huskies' domination of perennial power Tennessee, few are likely to give Oklahoma much of a chance Sunday.

"I knew we'd do everything we could to win, but you can't predict this," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said after the surprise blowout of Tennessee.

Coale believes her team has what it takes to pull off the upset.

The Sooners (32-3) were one of the few teams to give UConn a game in an 86-72 loss to the Huskies in December.

"The championship game is Sunday night, and we're playing in it," Coale said.

"I don't think the championship trophy has been sent to Storrs," she said, referring to the small Connecticut town that is home to the Huskies. "If it's all right with the rest of you guys, we're going to play for it."

Both teams start four seniors and bring All-Americans to the floor in a pair of guards - UConn's Sue Bird and Oklahoma's Stacey Dales.

Bird, the national player of the year, is the Huskies' point guard and architect of a devastating offensive attack. She had 18 points and five assists against Tennessee.

Dales is the cornerstone of Coale's rebuilding project. She had 17 points, six rebounds and five assists against Duke.

"Oklahoma is a tough team. I think they're playing really well right now, but I have all the confidence in the world in my teammates so I don't think it's really about her and I," Bird said. "It's about our teams."

While UConn gets contributions from every player in just about every game, a new hero emerged for the Sooners against Duke.

Rosalind Ross, who was averaging just over 10 points in the Sooners' run to the Final Four, struck for a career-high 26 against Duke despite playing with partially torn ligaments in her right knee. She hit four 3-pointers in keying the Sooners' win.

"I made a commitment to not let my knee be an excuse," Ross said. "It's very painful, but this is the Final Four and there's no excuses."

 

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