Huskies make it 8 straight semifinals

ALBANY, N.Y. – Getting to the Final Four never gets old for Geno Auriemma and his Connecticut Huskies.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis scored 27 points to help UConn beat Dayton 91-70 on Monday to advance to the national semifinals for an eighth straight year.

“I love going to the Final Four. I don’t care how many times it is, what the total number is. I love it for the fact that some of my players have never been there,” Auriemma said.

“When you get a chance to go, you feel like you did something pretty significant. We did it over and over again. Some kids don’t get to go once.”

Now the Huskies stand two wins away from a third straight national championship. They accomplished that same feat from 2002-04.

Unlike the first three games of the tournament when UConn won by an average of nearly 48 points, the Huskies got all they could handle from the seventh-seeded Flyers, who weren’t intimidated by the top seed for the game’s first 20 minutes.

“When we’re challenged, sometimes that’s when we’re at our best, and that’s what we talked about in the locker room and I couldn’t be prouder of them and happier for them … especially tonight against a great team,” Auriemma said. “Boy, I’m glad we don’t have to play them again.”

Trailing at the half for the first time in two seasons, UConn scored the first nine points of the second half during a 15-3 run to take a 58-47 lead with 13:56 left. Dayton didn’t get within seven points the rest of the way.