SAN ANTONIO -- Tennessee and Connecticut in the same gym, but not on the court at the same time. Maybe San Antonio will bring Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma back together, but not on this night.Instead, the top-ranked Huskies and the Lady Vols combined to behave a little ungraciously to their Texas hosts in the ESPNU Road to the Championship doubleheader at the AT&T Center.
Tennessee routed overmatched Texas Tech in the first game, 91-53, while the Huskies had little trouble with No. 10 Texas, winning 83-58.
But the night wasn't going to end without a little excitement. Not with Auriemma in the house.
Asked in the postgame press conference about whether he'd run into Summitt in the last two days, Auriemma said yes.
"We said 'Hi, how are you?', the same way I did with Gail (Goestenkors) and the same way I did with Kristy (Curry). There's no difference," Auriemma said. "There's no fugitives here, no crimes, just people saying hi to one another. I don't know why everybody thinks that when you are in the same neighborhood, you have to go out for dinner or something.
"I don't go out to dinner with my players. And I like them."
Auriemma's evening-ending salvo was the most exciting thing about an evening that featured two blowouts, perhaps not the greatest bookend for the Final Four, which will be returning to San Antonio (albeit at the Alamodome) in April.
Texas Tech was overmatched by Tennessee's size. Texas couldn't take advantage when Connecticut's size was off the floor because of foul trouble.
"Unfortunately, our bigs picked up some fouls too," Goestenkors said. "We had moments. But when you play a team like Connecticut, you need to have 40 of those moments."
In her third season at Texas, Goestenkors is still looking for a breakout, a defining win. But UConn doesn't like to oblige.
The Huskies ran out to a sizable lead, even as Tina Charles sat on the bench for much of the first half with two quick fouls. She finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds in 18 minutes. All-American Maya Moore led the way with 20 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and four blocks.Texas got a big night from Kathleen Nash, with 22 points and nine rebounds.
All five Connecticut starters scored in double figures and Auriemma said he learned a little more about his team.
"It wouldn't do us any good if Maya scored 30 and Tina had 25 and people said, 'Wow, these are the best players in the country'. We already know that. We need to see the other stuff that we did ...
"We went long stretches without Tina and Tiffany (Hayes) and Kaili (McLaren) and we were able to function well. It was a good test for us."
Summitt, meanwhile, is waiting for the right moment to let her team back in the locker room. Apparently an easy win over Texas Tech isn't it.
"I told them they had to win something," Summitt said. "We've got a couple of games coming up here. We'll see what they can do."
Tennessee's got a couple more road games coming up, a Sunday date at No. 12 Virginia, followed by a Nov. 25 game at No. 24 Middle Tennessee State.
The ninth-ranked Lady Vols have been locked out of their locker room since last February, the price they paid for poor play.
They've got to be getting close to a reprieve, right?
Sophomore Glory Johnson thinks it might be coming.
"She's been saying we have to win something and we've won a couple of games and we still get the same answer," Johnson said. "I think she wants us to get a really big win, for something amazing to happen."And beating up on Texas Tech, which couldn't match the Vols' size or talent, didn't quite qualify. Four Tennessee players scored in double figures, led by reserve post Taber Spani with 18 points. Johnson finished with 17 and Shekinna Stricklen added 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists in just 23 minutes on the floor.
Tennessee put together big runs in each half to put the Lady Raiders far in the rear view mirror, including a 32-4 stretch in the second half that made it a rout. The Vols also won the boards by a 49-28 margin.
Texas Tech is searching for more answers, and none of them are good so far, particularly after last week's exhibition loss to Lubbock Christian.
"We can only wish we had more size," said Texas Tech coach Kristy Curry. "I'm not going to sit here and make excuses for us, there are a lot of teams across the country that don't have their size."
The Lady Vols are off to a nice start, following up on Sunday's 74-65 home win over Baylor with a strong performance on the road. While the AT&T Center hosted Tuesday night's event, the 2010 Women's Final Four will be held at the Alamodome. The Vols aren't much picky about those details. They just want to come back.
"This is just a little taste of what it's all about," Summitt said. "It just wets our whistle a little bit."
