Moore, Charles drive UConn past Baylor to title game

SAN ANTONIO - Maya Moore and her Connecticut Huskies got past one real big obstacle blocking their path.

So after pulling away from 6-8 freshman Brittney Griner and Baylor for a 70-50 victory Sunday night - their 77th straight win - the Huskies are ready for a rematch with Stanford, this time for the NCAA championship.

A win Tuesday night and they'll be the first women's team to go undefeated in consecutive seasons.

UConn was tested and threatened for one of the rare times during its streak. Ahead 41-38 with 15 minutes left, the Huskies responded. Coach Geno Auriemma actually enjoyed that.

"I liked coaching tonight. We've played a lot of basketball this year and there haven't been a lot of opportunities where we've been challenged and pushed to that extent as we were tonight," Auriemma said. "We like the challenge and the competitiveness of the game. Makes you feel like you really accomplished something. We feel like we really earned that win, accomplished something."

Moore had 34 points and 12 rebounds and Tina Charles added 21 points and 13 boards for UConn (38-0), which beat Stanford, 80-68, on Dec. 23 in Hartford. That's the closest any team has come all season to the Huskies, who have won every game during their streak by double digits.

Stanford, which beat Oklahoma, 73-66, in the first semifinal, handed UConn its last loss back in the 2008 Final Four.

"I personally just want to play the best," Moore said. "I want to be challenged, I want to compete, and Stanford has proven themselves to be that team."

"The matchup doesn't matter to us," Charles said. "Whoever is going to be in the way, that's who we're going to have to go up against. It's nothing personal or anything like that."

Said Stanford guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude: "We have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.'' She also offered up this theory: "Say we play 10 times. Probability might be that their team would win the majority of the time, but all we have to do is win one game. One time, 40 minutes. I think it is do-able."

Tuesday's championship game will be the sixth time that the top two teams in the final Top 25 poll will meet for the title, with the last coming in 2002 when UConn beat Oklahoma in San Antonio.

"I'm so excited. It's what we work for all season," Moore said. "I'm almost speechless."

Most of the pregame attention focused on the intriguing matchup at center between Griner and Charles. Griner finished with 13 points and five blocked shots.

"She just did what every other post does," Griner said. "She was just a lot better than most other posts. I won't say I got frustrated or upset. It was just a battle. She has more experience."

Griner had blocked 35 shots in Baylor's first four tournament games, including 14 against Georgetown. "I think she's going to be a great player down the road. Maybe I'll get a chance to coach her someday," said Auriemma, also the U.S. women's basketball coach for the 2012 Olympics.

The Lady Bears (27-10), however, had no answer for Moore. Inside and out, the three-time All-American tormented Baylor.

"Maya made, obviously, some huge shots," Auriemma said.

The Lady Bears cut a 13-point halftime deficit to 41-38 nearly five minutes into the second half, drawing huge cheers from an Alamodome crowd that was a sea of yellow and green. Baylor's campus is only a three-hour bus ride away in Waco, and the Lady Bears were the first team to reach the Final Four in their home state since Missouri State made it to St. Louis in 2001.

With the score 45-40, Moore quickly ended any chances of a monumental upset, scoring six of the next eight points to restore the Huskies' double-digit lead. Her jumper made it 53-40 with 10:26 left.

"I looked up at the other four teammates and all I saw was positive body language. Got a steal off the bat and didn't look back," Moore said.

Baylor never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.

Morghan Medlock scored 14 to lead the Lady Bears, who were able to stay with UConn as Moore and Charles didn't get much help from the rest of their team. The other Huskies totaled only 15 points.

"It was definitely there for us to take," Griner said. "It was mistakes and letting it slip through our fingers. It was right there."