NCAA – No stopping Geno, Maya and UConn; Griner and Bears win big

STORRS (NCAA) - The University of Connecticut look like a team that's headed to another Final Four in the women's NCAA Tournament.

Led by USA coach Geno Auriemma and Maya Moore (pictured), one of the players that celebrated a gold-medal triumph at the FIBA World Championship for Women with the Americans last year, UConn stormed into the Sweet 16 with a 64-40 rout of Purdue.

Moore, playing in her last-ever game at Gampel Pavilion, had 16 points and Tiffany Hayes poured in 23.

More significant for UConn was how they played when they didn't have the ball.

The Huskies held the Boilermakers to just 15 of 54 (25.9%) shooting from the floor, including three of 17 (17.6%) from long range.

"The defense has always been our staple," Moore said.

"It's been the most consistent aspect of our team the last three years, it's been so consistent.

"We played really good team defense for the most part.

"It was unbelievable how hard we crashed the boards tonight."

UConn will square off against Georgetown on Sunday in Philadelphia with Duke going up against DePaul in the other regional semi-final.

Another side that has a great chance of reaching the Final Four is Baylor.

With one of the top players in the country on their team, center Brittney Griner, the Bears defeated West Virginia 82-68.

Griner had 30 points and swatted eight shots in the triumph.

The star spent the last nine minutes of first  half on the bench with two fouls but still had a big game.

"It was hard sitting on the bench," Griner said.

"But my team did great and they held it, and I was able to come back in the second half and help my team."

Next up for Griner and the Bears are Green Bay, who defeated Michigan State 65-56 to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time.

In other games on Tuesday, Georgetown won 79-57 over Maryland, Oklahoma beat Xavier 85-75, Georgia edged Florida State 61-59 and Texas A&M thrashed Rutgers 70-48.

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