Huskies Move to Semifinals of WNIT with win over FIU

Box Score

STORRS, CT (November 11, 2001) -- Behind a game-high 21 points from sophomore guard Diana Taurasi (Chino, CA), the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team stormed past Florida International in the second round of the WNIT Sunday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion. The Huskies will move on to play North Carolina in the WNIT semifinals Thursday night in Storrs. The Tarheels were 89-69 victors over Evansville.

UConn opened the contest on a 10-0 run, with five points by Taurasi. A three-pointer by Florida International’s Mandy Shafer put the Golden Panthers on the board and momentarily thwarted the Huksy run at the 14:03. However, UConn quickly responded with a 25-13 run to make the score 35-16 at the 4:44 mark in the first half.

Florida International then posted five straight points, including a three-pointer from Gergana Slavtcheva, who led the Golden Panthers with 10 points in the contest. FIU’s run was short-lived, as UConn rattled off a 14-4 run to close the half.

Taurasi, who tied a career-high with nine field goals, brought the half to a close with long three-pointer to bring the score to 49-25 in favor of the Huskies.

In the second half, the Golden Panthers narrowed the score to 58-40 at the 12:23 mark before UConn responded with a 20-5 run keyed by the backcourt play of Taurasi and senior Sue Bird (Syosset, NY). Bird finished with 11 points and seven assists.

Senior Swin Cash (McKeesport, PA) added 17 points for UConn while redshirt freshman Jessica Moore (Palmer, AK) chipped in 13 points in 19 minutes.

After out-rebounding Stephen F. Austin 59-30 Friday night, the Golden Panthers found themselves at a disadvantage in the rebounding column versus Connecticut, as UConn posted a 51-31 advantage on the boards.

For the game, the Husky defense limited Florida International to a 25.0 field-goal percentage.

UConn will face North Carolina in WNIT semifinal action Thursday night at Gampel Pavilion. Game time is 7:30 p.m.