Tennessee Finishes Villanova, 73-49

Tennessee, which played all its subregional and regional games at home, is headed to the women’s Final Four for the 14th time.

And a little friendly advice along the way didn’t hurt.

Gwen Jackson scored 20 points and Kara Lawson added 15 as the top-seeded Lady Vols beat second-seeded Villanova, 73-49, Monday night in the Mideast Regional final.

Tennessee Coach Pat Summitt acknowledged it helped her to know Villanova’s motion offense so well. She had befriended Wildcat Coach Harry Perretta over the summer.

Summitt said her knowledge of Villanova was a help.

“I can imagine that if I didn’t know about them, I wouldn’t have had much sleep,” said Summitt of Villanova (28-6), which had the only victory over defending NCAA champion Connecticut this season.

Coincidentally, over the summer, Summitt had befriended Villanova Coach Harry Perretta and asked for help in learning his motion offense. Perretta was so helpful he even had some former Villanova players put on a clinic for Summitt and her staff.

Monday it came back to haunt Perretta.

In the second half, Tennessee (32-4) turned up its defense, going on a 23-1 run and holding Villanova scoreless for 7:15. By the time it was over, Tennessee had a 55-32 lead with 11:33 left.

Tennessee improved its home record in NCAA tournament games to 44-0. Tennessee will play Duke in the national semifinals at Atlanta on Sunday. Duke beat Texas Tech, 57-51, Monday.

Asked if he would help Summitt if Tennessee ended up playing Connecticut, Perretta said: “I don’t help anybody outside the [Big East Conference] with teams in our league. It is an unwritten rule. Pat doesn’t need any help.”