KINGSTON, R.I. � Geno Auriemma and his UConn Huskies found a balanced offense to go along with their already stingy defense. That combination moved them one step away from a fifth straight trip to the Final Four.
Bria Hartley scored 20 points, Kelly Faris added 15 and No. 1 seed Connecticut advanced to the NCAA tournament's regional finals for the seventh straight year with a 77-59 win over Penn State on Sunday.
The Huskies will face Kentucky on Tuesday night with a berth in the national semifinals on the line.
"We're finding a certain comfort level with each other which is really helping us right now," Auriemma said. "We made a couple tweaks to our offense when the Big East tournament came around."
The results were five players in double figures on offense.
"People are taking shots within the offense," Auriemma said. "For us to get five players in double figures that makes up for not having someone who can get 30. Not having Maya (Moore) is a huge loss going into the NCAA tournament, we've had to replace her with four players instead of just one and it's paying off."
While the offense clicked against Penn State, the defense continued to be superb. The Huskies stymied the Nittany Lions, who averaged 87.5 points in the first two games of the Kingston regional.
"It's something we take a lot of pride in," Faris said of the defense. "It's something we work on day in and day out. Our offense stems from that. We play with four guards and a lot of switching and everyone has to know all the personnel. Today, it came down to everyone talking and helping each other out. We covered well for each other."
Leading 36-27 late in the first half, UConn (32-4) used a 17-2 run spanning halftime to blow the game open. Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis started the spurt with a 3-pointer. Two free throws by Tiffany Hayes made it 43-29 at the break. UConn 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.
"We played too fast," Penn State coach Coquese Washington said. "We shot a lot of quick shots. We didn't show enough patience on the offensive end. When you do that against a team like Connecticut, you give up a lot of points in transition. Once they get on a roll they're tough to stop."
Mia Nickson scored 19 points and Maggie Lucas added 15 for Penn State. Alex Bentley, the team's second-leading scorer, had just eight points.
UConn made Bentley and Lucas work hard for every point. The Huskies, who lead the nation allowing just over 45 points a game, didn't allow the pair many open looks at the basket and they combined to shoot 7 for 31.
"We knew going into the game that UConn was a good defensive team," Bentley said. "They gave a great effort and played good team defense."
The Huskies got off to a quick start, opening with a 14-4 run. Hartley had six during the opening spurt. UConn appeared ready to blow the game wide open, extending the advantage to 24-10 on Hayes' layup, but Penn State scored 11 of the next 13 points to cut its deficit to five on Nickson's free throws.
That's when Mosqueda-Lewis and Hartley took over. The pair scored the next 11 points for UConn, with Mosqueda-Lewis' 3-pointer beginning the key run.
This was the Huskies' 19th straight trip to the round of 16, while the Nittany Lions advanced this far for the first time since 2004 ? when they lost to Connecticut in the regional finals.
"I think it's a very good step for us," Washington said. "We wanted to improve every single season and we've done that. When I look at the game one thing I saw was that Connecticut played like a team that has played in a Sweet 16 before. They understood how long the game was and the patience you need to execute with."
Washington has done an incredible job rebuilding the program since taking over in 2007. The Nittany Lions won their first Big Ten regular-season title since 2004 this year. They also posted their highest win total since 2004-05.
This was the second straight NCAA bid under Washington's watch for Penn State, once a Top 25 staple before slipping during the last few years of longtime coach Rene Portland's tenure.
Penn State was able to advance to Kingston by winning two games at LSU, including beating the host team in the second round. Winning on the road has been no problem for this squad, which was 7-1 away from home in Big Ten conference games this season.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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