Big East champs again: UConn women pull away from WVU

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/09/2010 - Hartford, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kalana Greene scored 15 points and pulled down 12 rebounds, and top-ranked Connecticut captured the Big East Tournament title and stretched its winning streak to a record 72 games with a 60-32 triumph over No. 9 West Virginia.

Tiffany Hayes had 15 points, while Tina Charles contributed 12 points, 10 boards and four blocks for the Huskies (33-0), who pulled away over the game's final 15 minutes and didn't allow a field goal for the Mountaineers over an 11-minute stretch in the second half.

Maya Moore tallied 10 points for the Huskies, who are assured of being the top-seeded team for the NCAA Tournament. On Monday, they broke their own longest winning streak in NCAA Division I women's basketball history with a 59-44 victory over sixth-ranked Notre Dame.

The only longer winning streak in NCAA Division I basketball history is the 88-game run the UCLA men had from 1971-1974.

Since the 1993-94 season, Connecticut has won either the Big East regular season or tourney title in 17 consecutive seasons - and has captured both titles 12 times over that span. They've won both three straight years and have captured five of the last six tournament championships and have a total of 16 Big East titles overall.

Liz Repella totaled 10 points for the second-seeded Mountaineers (28-5), who shot just 24.1 percent from the field and have yet to win the conference title. They were beaten by UConn in the 2006 final.

Natalie Burton's free throw trimmed West Virginia's deficit to 33-28 with 15 1/2 minutes left, but the Mountaineers went the next 11-plus minutes without a field goal, thanks to some suffocating defense.

During that time, the Huskies went on an amazing 27-2 spurt. Moore started the flurry with a jumper and Meghan Gardler's three-pointer widened the cushion to 56-30 with under five minutes left.

Korinne Campbell's jumper, with 12 minutes left, represented the last WVU field goal until Akeema Richards scored in the final minute.

West Virginia closed a 27-10 deficit to 30-20 at the half.

Wwbet365 NCAA Basketball Betting News

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.