Dec 29, 2001
Box ScoreBy HANK KURZ Jr.
AP Sports Writer
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - Swin Cash scored 19 of her career-high 29 points in thefirst half, and Sue Bird had 22 points and a handful of great plays to lift No.1 Connecticut past No. 23 Old Dominion 84-70 Saturday.
Cash did most of her work in close, often after taking passes from Bird. TheHuskies (13-0) quashed every rally by the Lady Monarchs (5-4), who lost for thethird time to a ranked opponent.
A Lady Monarchs-record crowd of 5,236 at the quaint ODU Fieldhouse jeeredthe officials over several questionable calls.
Old Dominion was whistled for 28 fouls, the Huskies 21.
Still, the Huskies were clearly superior.
Bird, a senior, was 8-of-14 from the field and had eight assists, includinga dazzling first-half play when she saved a long pass under the basket anddelivered a wraparound pass to the trailing Cash for an easy layup.
The Huskies led 46-30 after a 10-point run bridging halftime, but OldDominion scored 10 of the next 14 to make it 50-40 with 16:16 left.
Diana Taurasi then made her first basket and followed with two free throwsfor the Huskies, sparking a 10-3 spurt that all but clinched it. Taurasifinished with 16 points.
Lucienne Berthieu, the two-time Colonial Athletic Association player of theyear coming back from left knee surgery, scored all but two of her 17 points inthe second for the Lady Monarchs.
Okiesha Howard scored 18 for Old Dominion, which shot just 32.4 percent,missing rushed shots from close to the basket throughout the game.
The Lady Monarchs were within 36-30 with 1:15 left in the first half, butBird scored on a drive, Cash on a layup, and Bird added a 12-footer with justunder seven seconds to play, making it 42-30 at the break.
Cash's 19 and Bird's 11 in the first half combined to match Old Dominion'stotal. The Lady Monarchs were 11-for-37 (29.7 percent).