~STORY OF THE WEEK~

AN UNSTOPPABLE TEAM

UCONN WINS 75TH CONSECUTIVE GAME

The first time Maya Moore touched the ball on offense she hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The second time, she hit one from the left corner. And so began another Connecticut rout. Moore scored 16 of her 25 points in the opening 9 minutes and seemingly invincible UConn took it from there to roll over Iowa State 74-36 in a regional semifinal Sunday. ''Connecticut is certainly as good as advertised,'' Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. ''I don't think I've had a whipping like that since I was a little kid and I broke something of my mom's.'' Kelly Faris came off the bench for 16 points and Tina Charles also had 16 for the Huskies (36-0), who extended their unprecedented winning streak to 75 in a row. The Huskies have won their first three games in the tournament by a combined 148 points -- the most ever. UConn easily surpassed the previous mark of 131 it set in 2000 and 2001. A frequently overlooked strength of the Huskies -- team defense -- was evident. Iowa State came in shooting 43 percent from the field but made just 15 of 53 shots for 28 percent. The Cyclones, one the nation's pre-eminent 3-point-shooting teams, were rattled into going just 6 of 25 behind the arc, with most of the damage they did do behind the arc coming after the game was all but over. ''I know it sounds like a broken record from me, but going into today's game I wasn't really sure how we were going to keep them from making a bunch of 3s,'' UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. ''I can't tell you how well this group played defensively, how they locked into the scouting report and how well they prepared. They just played exceptionally well defensively.'' (NY Times)