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Saturday, Jan. 22 12:00pm ET
Ralph, Cash score 13 points each | |||||
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BOX SCORE
VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) -- No. 1 Connecticut had a hard time not thinking about a return trip to Philadelphia for the NCAA women's Final Four. "It's not easy to concentrate when you're down here. But I think our concentration level was very focused," coach Geno Auriemma said after the Huskies beat Villanova 79-46 on Saturday.
Shea Ralph and Swin Cash scored 13 points each to lead Connecticut (17-0, 6-0 Big East). Svetlana Abrosimova scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half and Sue Bird added 12 points for the Huskies. Auriemma, a Philadelphia native, said he urged his players not to think about the Final Four, a difficult task he admitted. "I'm already scouting restaurants," Auriemma said. Jenea Skeeters led Villanova (9-7, 2-3) with 10 points, going 3-for-16 from the field. Only six players scored for Villanova, which did not have a field goal over the final 10 minutes of the game. "In 22 years I haven't seen a better team one through 10. They make a substitution and nothing changes," coach Harry Perretta said of the Huskies, who had 10 players score. Connecticut led 38-18 at halftime, shooting 62 percent from the field to Villanova's 30 percent. Villanova rallied early in the second half, keyed by Trish Juhline's consecutive 3-pointers with 11:46 left to close the gap to 19 points. But Cash made two free throws followed by a fast-break basket past the breathless Wildcats to put Connecticut up 60-37 with 8:19 remaining. "We switched a lot on defense and I think that frustrated them a little bit," Cash said. Juhline's jumper with 10:03 remaining was Villanova's last basket from the field and the Wildcats never got within 20 points again. "The pressure was on at all times. You couldn't ever take a break, you couldn't ever calm down. They were everywhere," Juhline said. Ralph, whose breakaway layup with 1:32 left gave the Huskies' their biggest lead of the game, 35 points, said it was premature to predict a Final Four appearance. "We're good but we need to get better before we can think about that," Ralph said. The team planned to attend Saturday night's 76ers game at the First Union Center, the site of the Final Four. Connecticut scored the game's first 13 points, capped by a 3-pointer from Bird with 10:55 left in the first half. The Huskies launched a 9-0 run on a driving layup from Ralph with 7:07 left in the half. The Wildcats, who upset No. 8 Rutgers last week, were without starters Lauren Pellicane, out with a knee injury, and Mimi Riley, who is out for the season with a foot injury. | ALSO SEE Womens College Basketball Scoreboard
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