NCAA Women's 2011 Tournament: Maya Moore has 3,000 Reasons She is Headed to Her 4th Final Four

It was hard to keep a secret. It started with Caroline Doty sneaking a peak at a fan’s sign in the stands on Tuesday. ‘28 to 3,000,’ it said. It maybe should have read ’40 Minutes to Immortalization.’

Maya Moore scored 28 points to lead the Connecticut Huskies past the Duke Blue Devils 75-40 and into the record book as only the 7^th player in NCAA Tournament History to score 3,000 points. If that wasn’t enough she also used the night to collect 10 rebounds and move into a tie with Rebecca Lobo for 2^nd all-time at UConn with 1,268. But it almost didn’t happen.

With 7:39 left in the game, Maya Moore was lying prone on the floor after banging knees. After sitting for a minute and riding a stationary bike for a few seconds she was back in, she was on a mission.

"When Maya came out that was one of the first things everyone started yelling," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said, "‘She needs two more points!’ and I was like, ‘So what? I don’t care she’s out.’ And then Chris {Dailey] goes, ‘Listen, let’s just get it over with so we don’t have to worry about it next weekend.’ I’m glad it’s out of the way and now we can just focus on playing Notre Dame."

Maya Moore came back into the game, went behind a screen and nailed the jumper to send her teammates and the crowd into a frenzy. Further cementing her place in the great lore of dominating players.

Connecticut was led by Moore’s 28 points, 10 rebounds, 7 Steals, 2 Blocks, 1 Assist. Bria Hartley had 14 points, 6 assist, 6 rebounds. Stefanie Dolson 12 points and 6 assists.

Duke was led by Jasmine Dixon with 17 points and 6 rebounds and 4 assists. 11 players for Duke logged minutes.

Maya Moore and Lorin Dixon are headed to their 4^th Final Four and UConn is headed to their 12^th overall sending sophomore guard Kelly Faris home to Indiana in search of her 2^nd National Championship in 2 years.

UConn’s next opponent is a familiar one at that. Connecticut will face Notre Dame in Semi-Final #2 in Indianapolis. The Huskies and the Fighting Irish have squared off 3 times this season, with UConn winning all three meetings by an average of 11 points. The Final Four is in Notre Dame’s state however and UConn squeaked out a 3 point win coming from behind.

All Regional Team:

-          Jasmine Thomas               Duke University               

-          Karima Christmas             Duke University

-          Lorin Dixon                         Connecticut

-          Bria Hartley                         Connecticut

Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player:  Maya Moore Connecticut

More to come soon… Including Geno’s thoughts on Tennessee and Dixon’s reaction to making the All Tournament team…