Uconn Drives Toward Title Top-Ranked Huskies Hoping To Finish Season Undefeated

Kara Wolters and Carla Berube can see the end of the road, and it’s getting closer all the time.

The two Connecticut seniors know that even if they keep winning, their college basketball careers will be over in three weeks. One slip, and they’ll be over even sooner.

“I think there’s that sense of urgency that the season is coming to a close, especially this year,” said Wolters, the All-America center who leads the No. 1-ranked Huskies into a first-round NCAA Midwest Regional game today with Lehigh.

“This is it for us, so there’s an even more sense of urgency. We’re going to try to do everything in our power to make sure it’s the way we would like it to end.”

What Wolters & Co. are hoping for, of course, is an ending like the one in 1995, when they won the national championship and finished 35-0. A championship this year would leave the Huskies 36-0.

The 1995 team showed remarkable poise, dispatching its opponents with cool efficiency. So far, this one has done the same. The Huskies (30-0), the nation’s only unbeaten team, are winning by an average of 17 points.

“I think we still have the same kind of attitude we do every year heading into the tournament,” Wolters said. “I think practices have shown that. They’ve been very competitive and aggressive. We couldn’t ask for anything more. I think we’re in the right mindset now entering the tournament.”

Connecticut, the No. 1 seed in its region, is 129-7 in the four years Wolters and Berube have played. But the Huskies are not the only team entering the tournament on a roll.

Check out Old Dominion (29-1), seeded No. 1 in the Mideast and winner of 28 in a row. Or Stanford (30-1), the top seed in the West. The Cardinal, who play Howard (24-5) today, have won 21 straight since a Dec. 17 loss at Old Dominion.

Montana (25-3) has won 20 in a row heading into a West Regional game against Texas Tech (19-8) on Saturday, and Grambling (24-5) risks a 19-game winning streak at defending national champion Tennessee (23-10) in the Midwest, also Saturday.

St. Joseph’s (25-4) takes a 17-game winning streak against Kansas State (19-11) in the East today, while Drake (23-6) puts a 16-game streak on the line in a Midwest game at Illinois (22-7) on Friday.

Connecticut should have no trouble with visiting Lehigh (15-14), which has the worst record in the field. The Engineers were 12-14 before winning the Patriot League tournament to earn their NCAA berth.

The Huskies’ second-round game could be interesting, though, because they might be facing Iowa for the right to advance to the Midwest semifinals at Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Ninth-seeded Iowa (17-11) plays No. 8 seed North Carolina State (19-11) in the other first-round game at Connecticut. Iowa was a disappointment for much of the season before winning the Big Ten tournament. North Carolina State is the only team that has beaten Old Dominion.

“I certainly think that’s the toughest game of all the 8-9 games,” Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma said. “Golly, the team that won the Big Ten championship playing in an 8-9 game? That’s hard to believe.”

Old Dominion, which entertains Liberty today, breezed through the Colonial Athletic Association after a formidable non-conference schedule that included victories over Duke, Vanderbilt, Purdue and Tennessee, in addition to Stanford.

The Monarchs are led by two All-Americans - point guard Ticha Penicheiro and center Clarisse Machanguana.

Their first-round opponent is the nation’s most improved team. An infusion of freshmen helped Liberty go from 5-22 a year ago to 22-7 now, only the second winning season for the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s school since it became Division I in 1988.

The best of the newcomers came from Moscow, 6-foot-1 Elena Kisseleva, who averages 21.7 points and 8.3 rebounds.

North Carolina (27-2), the No. 1 seed in the East, also had a dramatic turnaround.

The Tar Heels didn’t even make the NCAA Tournament last season, when they finished 13-14. But speedy guard Marion Jones returned after sitting out a year to concentrate on track and teamed with Tracy Reid and Chanel Wright to give coach Sylvia Hatchell an explosive perimeter game.

They’ll lead the Tar Heels against Harvard (20-6) today.

Colorado’s NCAA prospects improved significantly with a strong finish to the regular season, which gave the Buffaloes (21-8) a subregional on their own floor and the No. 2 seed in the Midwest.

They were a so-so 10-6 after losing at Kansas on Jan. 25 and weren’t even sure of making the tournament. But Colorado has won 11 of its last 13 and takes a six-game winning streak against Marshall (18-11) today.

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1. NCAA WOMEN ON TV Today 3 p.m.: Maryland vs. Purdue (ESPN2) 9:30: Marshall vs. Colorado (ESPN2) Saturday 9: Montana vs. Texas Tech (ESPN)

2. TODAY’S WOMEN’S GAMES Midwest Regional Stephen F. Austin (27-4) vs. Toledo (27-3) Colorado (21-8) vs. Marshall (18-11) Duke (18-10) vs. DePaul (20-8) Illinois (22-7) vs. Drake (23-7)

East Regional Michigan St. (21-7) vs. Portland (27-2) North Carolina (27-2) vs. Harvard (20-6) St. Joseph’s (25-4) vs. Kansas St. (19-11) Alabama (23-6) vs. St. Francis, Pa. (21-8)

West Regional Arizona (22-7) vs. Western Kentucky (22-8) Georgia (22-5) vs. Eastern Kentucky (24-5) Utah (24-5) vs. Iowa State (17-11) Virginia (21-7) vs. Troy State (23-6)

Mideast Regional Purdue (16-10) vs. Maryland (18-9) Old Dominion (29-1) vs. Liberty (22-7) Auburn (21-9) vs. Louisville (20-8) Louisiana Tech (29-3) vs. St. Peter’s (25-3)