Feb. 1, 2003

Box Score

By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer

DURHAM, N.C. - And the Streak keeps going, thanks to a nearly perfect performance by Diana Taurasi and her Huskies.

Second-ranked Connecticut breezed to its record 59th straight victory, easily defeating No. 1 Duke 77-65 Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 9,314 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"I know our defense is good, but it was better than good in the first half," coach Geno Auriemma said. "That's about as good as we have ever played - this group anyway. It would be hard to play any better."

UConn's streak is the best in women's basketball history and third all-time, trailing only two men's programs - UCLA's 88 in a row from 1971-74 and San Francisco's 60 straight from 1955-57.

Taurasi and Ann Strother scored 17 points each for the Huskies (20-0), who used a 15-0 run to close the first half. But the win didn't come without a scare after UConn built its lead to 28 points in the second half.

"The air was out of our sails, that was obvious," Auriemma said of the final eight minutes. "I could see it during a timeout. I looked at them and said, 'We've lost our confidence, we've got to get it back.' Those first 30 minutes took a lot out of us.

"Halftime came at the right time for them and the end of the game came at the right time for us."

Duke (20-1) used a 30-11 run to get back into it and closed within nine two different times before UConn went 11-for-12 from the foul line over the final 1:58 to close it out.

"We knew going into the last few minutes it was going to come down to foul shots and taking care of the ball," Taurasi said.

The Blue Devils had been No. 1 the first 12 weeks of the season, but the defending national champions will take over the top spot this week thanks to their double-digit victory.

"If we play again next week it could be a different outcome," Auriemma said. "I don't think you should infer anything from a game in February. The NCAA tournament is a whole different thing.

"You know what, all this proves is that Duke can lose. Next week at Boston College, we could lose and all that proves is that we can lose. We're all flawed. There are no teams out there that you're scared to death to play them - including us."

Duke All-American Alana Beard, who came in averaging 23.5 points a game, had just nine points with 10 minutes remaining before she finished with 26.

Meanwhile, Connecticut's inside players dominated and its defense was super most of the night, holding the Blue Devils to 33.3 percent shooting.

The Huskies led 26-20 before the Blue Devils went the final seven minutes of the first half without a hoop, going 0-for-9 from the field while Connecticut had its way on the inside.

Twelve of UConn's 18 first-half baskets were either layups or follows while the Blue Devils missed 25 of 32 shots and turned it over 10 times to fall into a deep hole by the break.

"I thought we were very much out of sorts in the first half - and I give them credit for that," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. "You can't get frazzled against them and you've got to hit shots. Poise and patience were our themes of the day and I don't think we had either one."

"We were aggressive and we were attacking them and they were a little bit on their heels," Taurasi said.

Auriemma stirred up the Cameron Crazies leading up to the 36th all-time matchup of No. 1 vs. No. 2 in women's hoops by calling the Duke students' antics overrated.

But the Huskies took the crowd out of it in the first 20 minutes, opening up a 21-point lead.

Duke officials had to turn away students who wanted to get into the game, and the crowd was ready to razz Auriemma from the start.

One sign read: 'Geno, Today's Menu Special - Humble Pie.'

"I think people take themselves too seriously," Auriemma said. "These kids are at Duke and somebody is paying 40-grand for them to come here. Have a sense of humor - and I'm glad they do."

Auriemma, who is now 484-96, appeared a few minutes before tipoff to some boos. He didn't shake the hands of Duke's players in pregame introductions, expect for Beard, whom he coached during the summer with USA basketball.

He kissed Beard on the cheek and gave her a big bear hug - then the Huskies got down to business, grabbing a 10-point lead 5½ minutes in as Taurasi had a pair of 3-pointers.

Taurasi also started the late first-half run with a 3-pointer.

Duke, which failed to set the record for the best start in ACC history, showed little fire to start the second half and fell behind 51-23 before Auriemma was called for a technical after arguing a foul call against Taurasi.

That got the crowd back into it and Duke began its final rally. But the Blue Devils couldn't pull it out and saw their 21-game home winning streak snapped.

"We don't have time to really be deflated," Goestenkors said.