Connecticut cruises into women’s regional final

A balanced offense and a stingy defense carried Geno Auriemma and his Connecticut Huskies to another regional final.

Bria Hartley scored 20 points, Kelly Faris had 15 and No. 1-seeded Connecticut advanced to the NCAA tournament’s regional finals for the seventh straight year with a 77-59 win over Penn State on Sunday at Kingston, R.I.

“We wanted to make sure that this was a team thing more than looking around for someone to have a big night,” Auriemma said. “The team would have to play great defense and the team would have to execute offensively. I was really happy after the game to sit back and say that’s exactly what it was.”

The Huskies’ stellar defense stymied the Nittany Lions, who averaged 87.5 points in the first two games of the Kingston Regional.

The Huskies will face Kentucky on Tuesday night with a berth in the Final Four at Denver on the line.

Leading 36-27 late in the first half, Connecticut (32-4) used a 17-2 run spanning halftime to blow the game open. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis started the spurt with a three-pointer. Two free throws by Tiffany Hayes made it 43-29 at the break. Connecticut then scored the first 10 points of the second half to extend the margin to 53-29. Hartley capped the run with a lay-in.

Penn State (26-7) scored the next nine points to pull to 53-38, but the Nittany Lions could get no closer.

Notre Dame 79, St. Bonaventure 35: Natalie Novosel scored 16 points and Notre Dame advanced to the Raleigh (N.C.) Regional final by routing St. Bonaventure.

Kalia Turner scored 14 points and Kayla McBride had 10 for the top-seeded Fighting Irish (33-3).

They shot 52.5%, never trailed and led by 45 before matching a 22-year-old record for scoring margin in the regional round while cruising into the finals for the second straight year.

Notre Dame will play second-seeded Maryland on Tuesday night with a spot in the Final Four on the line.

CeCe Dixon had 13 points and Doris Ortega had 11 for the fifth-seeded Bonnies (31-4).

They shot a season-low 19%, gave up a season-high point total and finished with a season-worst 21 turnovers. Leading scorer Jessica Jenkins was scoreless — she entered averaging 14 points — and missed all six of her shots.

Maryland 81, Texas A&M 74: Laurin Mincy had 21 points and 12 rebounds to help Maryland rally past Texas A&M in the semifinals of the Raleigh Regional.

Alyssa Thomas had 21 points and nine rebounds for the Terrapins (31-4), who trailed by 18 in the first half and 11 midway through the second. But Maryland fought its way back and held the reigning national champion Aggies (24-11) to one basket in the final 7 1/2 minutes.

The Terrapins have won 10 straight games and 13 of 14 since a home loss to Virginia Tech on Jan. 26. They’re back in a regional final for the first time since 2009, when they were in Raleigh as a No. 1-seeded team.

Freshman Alexia Standish scored 19 points to lead Texas A&M.

Kentucky 79, Gonzaga 62: Keyla Snowden made five three-pointers, hitting a pair of them to turn back Gonzaga’s last charge as Kentucky beat the Bulldogs to advance to the East Regional final at Kingston.

Snowden had 17 points, shooting five for nine from three-point range, and Samarie Walker scored 16 with 12 rebounds for No. 2-seeded Kentucky.

It’s the second trip to the regional finals for Kentucky (28-6) in three years.

Kayla Standish scored 25 for No. 11-seeded Gonzaga (28-6), which reached the round of 16 for the third consecutive year.