Home-wreckers

No. 1 UConn quiets record crowd, rips Tennessee

UConn's Swin Cash drives past Shyra Ely. AP

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Connecticut might be Tennessee's biggest rival, but Diana Taurasi has quickly become the Lady Vols' nemesis in just two games.

Taurasi scored a career-high 32 points as the top-ranked Huskies beat No. 2 Tennessee 86-72 Saturday to improve to 16-0. The sophomore guard scored 24 points before fouling out a year ago in the last meeting between the teams, which Tennessee won 92-88 in Knoxville.

But this time finding a way to stop Taurasi and four seniors and scoring enough points was too much for the Lady Vols (11-1). Most of the Thompson-Boling Arena-record crowd of 24,611 started to leave early or became silent before the horn sounded.

There have been 34 meetings of No. 1 vs. No. 2 teams in The Associated Press rankings since 1979. The No. 1 team has won 19.

Five of those 1-2 matchups have been between these teams. Tennessee has been No. 2 in three meetings when Connecticut was No. 1. The Lady Vols have won just once in that setting, 92-81 at Storrs, Conn., in 1999.

"Connecticut is clearly a more aggressive and physical basketball team," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said. "They work so hard. We didn't have an answer for Taurasi. Diana had her way."

Connecticut leads the series 8-6, and has won three of the last five meetings.

Swin Cash added 16 points for Connecticut, Tamika Williams had 13 and Sue Bird 12. Williams also had 15 rebounds and Cash 10 as the Huskies outrebounded Tennessee 40-31.

"We came in feeling like we had to defend really well but we also had to rebound exceptionally well," said Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma. "The keys to the game ended up being the keys to the game."

Rebounding was just one of the problems Connecticut created for Tennessee. The Lady Vols also shot just 27-of-72 from the field while Connecticut was 32-of-56 and couldn't get second-chance shots when they did get rebounds.

Then there was Taurasi, who was 11-of-16 from the floor and made 3-of-6 3-pointers. No Lady Vol could guard her in the paint or on the perimeter effectively.

"I felt going into it we had some options [to defend Taurasi]. We pretty much ran through our options. She was just too good today," Summitt said.

On one play, Taurasi, who is right-handed, used her left hand to guide the ball into the basket as Tennessee's Michelle Snow fouled her.

"I even laughed at that one. That was hard to believe. I know she does that kind of stuff routinely just screwing around," Auriemma said. "Today, she really wanted to get fouled you could see. She wanted to get in the lane."

To celebrate drawing the foul for the three-point play, Taurasi jabbed some orange padding on the basket pole with her right hand.

"I wanted to hit something orange," Taurasi said, alluding to Tennessee's dominant uniform color.

The Huskies were ahead by six points at halftime and took control early in the second half. Each time Tennessee seemed to regain some momentum, Connecticut would snuff it out.

The Huskies used an 11-5 run to go up 56-46 with 11:40 left, and Tennessee couldn't find an effective lineup on offense or defense.

The Lady Vols cut it to 60-51 after Brittany Jackson's 3 with 10:05 left, but Connecticut countered with Ashja Jones' 3 at the other end. Kara Lawson had a pull-up jumper to return the lead to 63-53.

Then the Huskies put Tennessee in a 21-point hole with an 11-0 run as Williams made four free throws, and Jones finished it with another basket for a 74-53 lead with 6:30 remaining.

Snow started to get warmed up with two straight shots, but it was too late. The Lady Vols didn't have enough time to mount a rally.

Lawson led the Lady Vols in scoring with 17 points while Snow had 14, all but two in the second half, and Gwen Jackson added 10.

Down by six at halftime, Tennessee cut it to 39-37 after Lawson made two free throws with 17:16 to go. But Connecticut regained its six-point cushion after Bird hit a 3 two minutes later.

Connecticut started to pull away toward the end of the first half, taking a 37-31 lead at halftime. Tennessee led for the last time, 27-25 after LaToya Davis' basket with 6:22 left in the first half.

Related information
Stories
No. 1 UConn meets No. 2 Tennessee All-time No. 1 vs. No. 2 Results
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.