Shavonte Zellous led Pittsburgh with 11 points.

March 10, 2008

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -Tina Charles scored 21 points and Renee Montgomery added 15 to help top-ranked Connecticut cruise past Pittsburgh 74-47 on Monday night in the Big East conference tournament semifinals.

Connecticut will face the winner of No. 16 West Virginia and No. 23 Louisville in the championship game Tuesday night. It's the fourth straight year Connecticut has made the title game. The Huskies lost last season to Rutgers in the finals, but won the previous two titles.

UConn (31-1) jumped all over Pittsburgh scoring 11 of the first 12 points. Leading 20-10 midway through the first half, Connecticut went on a 19-2 run over the next 6 1/2 minutes to put the game away. Charles had seven points during the spurt.

Connecticut held a 44-22 lead at the half, and Pittsburgh (22-10) could get no closer than 20 in the second half.

About the only drama of the second half was whether freshman Maya Moore would continue her double-figures scoring streak. The Big East player of the year was held to just seven points, marking the first time she didn't reach double figures. Moore was tied with Diana Taurasi for the school record with 31 straight games with 10 or more points.

Shavonte Zellous scored 11 points to lead the fifth-seeded Panthers, while Marcedes Walker added 10 points and nine rebounds.

The Huskies routed Pitt 90-64 in their regular-season meeting on Feb. 17. Pittsburgh was able to hang in that game for the first 10 minutes before Connecticut went on an 18-2 run to close the first half and put the game away.

Pitt had no chance Monday night. The Panthers turned the ball over on five of their first six possessions and shot just 24 percent (9-for-37) from the field in the first half.

Pitt advanced to the semifinals of the Big East by beating Villanova and then-No. 9 Notre Dame. The Panthers are 0-8 all-time in the conference semifinals. They last made it there in 1996 when Pitt won its first two games before bowing to UConn.

UConn, which beat DePaul to advance to the semifinals, leads the all-time series with Pitt 36-9, including wins in the last 23 meetings.