MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 2-seeded West Virginia women's basketball team was unable to hold off No. 1-seeded , Connecticut, as they were defeated by the Huskies, 60-32, in the Big East Tournament championship game at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., on Tuesday evening.

	AP photo

It is UConn’s 16th Big East tournament title under coach Geno Auriemma. His No. 1-ranked Huskies have now won 72 consecutive games and were able to shoot 41.8 percent for the game after only shooting 37.5 percent in the first half.

The Mountaineers, however, were off the mark, hitting only 14-of-58 field goals for 24.1 percent. UConn also had a huge advantage on the boards, as they outrebounded the Mountaineers by 27, 49-22.

Junior's Liz Repella, Sarah Miles and Korrine Campbell managed a combined 8-of-27 from the field, including Repella going 1-of-6 from 3-point range. Repella was face guarded by UConn for the majority of the night and had very few clean looks at the basket.

The most important moments of the game came early in the second half after a Tiffany Hayes layup for UConn to put the Huskies up 32-20. The Mountaineers used a 8-0 run starting at the 19:26 mark with a Campbell layup to bring the game to 33-28, the closet WVU was able to get. Five points from Repella, including her lone 3-pointer, and a free throw from sophomore Natalie Burton, capped the run.

UConn managed to go on a 32-4 run to close out the game, while the Mountaineers went 2-of-20 from the field in the final 15 minutes, with UConn shooting 10-of-17 and outrebounding WVU by 15 in the span

Kalana Greene led UConn with 15 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and one steal. Greene had made seven in a row before missing her first shot. Tiffany Hayes also scored 15 points for the Huskies.

A bright spot for West Virginia was the Mountaineers were able to hold UConn's top two scorers, Tina Charles and Maya Moore, to 12 and 10 points, respectively. Charles also had 10 rebounds and four blocks, while Moore had seven rebounds.

Repella led WVU with 10 points. Campbell finished with 6 points and junior Madina Ali grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

Going into halftime with the score in favor of UConn, 30-20, the Mountaineers held Charles and Moore to a combined 3-for-17 shooting in the half. However, West Virginia was only able to shoot 28.1 percent and was outrebounded, 27-13.

UConn went on a 10-0 run starting with a Moore layup at the 14:54 mark that ended with a Miles jumper at the 9:18 mark, her first points of the half. Miles went 1-for-10 in the first half after scoring a season-high 18 points in last night's win.

Toward the end of the half, the Mountaineers began to find their scoring touch, going on a 8-2 run that started with a put-back layup from sophomore Natalie Burton at the 4:05 mark. Burton has provided key minutes off the bench in the last two games.

Sophomore Vanessa House then hit a 3-pointer, followed by a made free throw and a jumper from Liz Repella to end the half.

The Mountaineers will now wait to see where they are seeded in the 2010 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. The selection show will be televised on ESPN on Monday, March 15, at 7 p.m.

	Posted by WVU Women's Hoop '81 on 3/09/10 at 10:13 PM Congratulations Mountaineers! You represented WVU proudly - you gave it your all against an obviously well skilled and historical team. Hold your heads high and forge through the NCAA tournament! You made me proud to say I once played woman's hoops at WVU.
	Posted by mdeer on 3/10/10 at 8:49 AM we had to play a near perfect game against the Huskies and did the opposite, sloppy turnovers and poor shot selection at critical moments sealed the deal against a very aggressive Huskie D. The team played hard and played above the predictions all season to gain the right to battle the Huskies for the championship. But you can't beat UConn playing your B game or C game or D game . . . Congrats for a great season. battle tested in the BE and expecting a 2 or 3 seed in the dance means you won't be facing the perennial power teams until the elite eight so get on a run and make us proud. announcers should have said it - no Seniors on this team
	Posted by adamwvu23 on 3/10/10 at 9:39 AM I have never seen such a 1-sided broadcast of a game. Both announcers and the "sideline reporter" were awful; it was "UConn this and UConn that". Continuous UConn highlights and reports from their sideline. Not one WVU highlight from the season, not one sideline report from the WVU bench. If you're going to have a former UConn player kiss Geno's butt then ESPN should have sent former WVU player Meg Bulger (on ESPNU) to cover the WVU sideline. Both teams should've been covered equally. And not one mention of Coach Cary yelling at the officials at halftime and after the game. Pretty sad when we have a player foul out with 14 minutes to go and UConn shoots over twice as many free throws. It was specifically one-sided. Sorry had to vent; we lost, they're a great team, I just hated the people calling the game.
	Posted by Jim on 3/10/10 at 9:55 AM It is a testament to how good this year's team has been that a loss is front page news for the Dominion Post.
	Posted by KKSlider on 3/10/10 at 4:23 PM I watched the game and had to turn it off because the refs were calling everything on WVU and nothing on UCONN. It was sickening. Also, why is the Big East championship played in UCONN's backyard? Hartford is like 50 miles away from their campus. When UCONN plays in the tournament, it's like home games for them. It's really unfair and so disturbing to see that I'll never watch another ladies Big East Tournament game. And it should be renamed the Big Ladies of UCONN Tournament as they are all big ladies for sure. Many of their players look like men. They should be required to take tests to determine if they're all really females.
	Posted by yatta baby on 3/10/10 at 7:44 PM v house i am so proud of you keep doing yo thang.. n congrats for making it all tha way...love u and the team....
	Posted by Randy on 3/11/10 at 6:43 PM Coaches and players all should take pride in such a great year. West Virginia fans are always prowd, but your total team effort this year has made it that much easier. Good luck in the NCAAs. (And please don't dwell on the loss to UCONN.)

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