Connecticut UConn/Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Women's College Basketball recap on ESPN

Connecticut quickly wore down Pittsburgh with its size and Kelly Schumacher's scoring, and the Huskies -- probably enjoying their last game as the nation's top-ranked team -- beat the Panthers 83-43 Saturday.

The Huskies (14-1, 5-1 in Big East) recorded the 500th women's victory in school history and the 408th under coach Geno Auriemma, but are almost certain of being replaced atop the ESPN/USA Today rankings Monday by Notre Dame.

Notre Dame ended Connecticut's 30-game winning streak with a 92-76 victory Monday. UConn has been atop the poll for 30 consecutive weeks.

"The polls are great for the fans ... (and) Notre Dame will be the focus of everybody's attention now," Auriemma said. "But, as I told out kids, it doesn't matter in March if you're 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. Everybody is 0-0 in March."

This was UConn's only scheduled trip to Pittsburgh, but there could be another. The NCAA East Regional will be played there March 24-26, and Auriemma wouldn't mind making the short trip back rather than being placed in a regional much farther away.

"That's my hope, to come back here," he said.

Of course, if there is a return trip, the Huskies will face much better competition that Pitt (8-9, 2-3), which doesn't have a starter taller than 6-foot-2 and lacks Connecticut's talent and size.

Pitt had no player who could match up with Schumacher, a 6-5 senior who had only three points in her previous two games but finished with 20.

Schumacher was especially unhappy with her play against Notre Dame center Ruth Riley, who dominated the Huskies with 29 points and 12 rebounds. Schumacher had one point in that game and two against Old Dominion.

"I knew I could play better than I've been playing," said Schumacher, whose previous season scoring high was eight. "I was trying to come out strong and aggressive."

Schumacher, still recovering from a broken foot that sidelined her for six games, kept posting up low against Pitt's smaller defenders while scoring 10 in the first half. With Schumacher dominating inside, the Huskies held Pitt to three points during an 11-minute span in which they turned a 7-7 tie into a 26-10 lead.

"You could see that look in her eyes," teammate Swin Cash said. "She was really focused. She was knocking down shots and she was really aggressive going to the basket."

During the Huskies' 19-3 run, Pitt had 12 turnovers in a span of 22 possessions. The Panthers had a similar cold streak while going scoreless for nearly eight minutes during a 16-0 UConn run in the second half.

Pittsburgh had 20 turnovers in the first half and ended with 35 -- 10 by guard Laine Selwyn -- in its 14th consecutive loss to Connecticut since 1993. The Huskies' average winning margin during that streak is 34 points.

"We couldn't score," Pitt coach Traci Waites said. "We were trying to, but we just couldn't. We tried to play them aggressive and not be intimidated by them, but we ran out of gas in the second half. We were exhausted."

Cash, who played high school basketball in Pittsburgh, added 14 points and eight rebounds and Sue Bird had 13 points.

However, Shea Ralph, who averaged 15 points on UConn's national title team last season, couldn't break her season-long slump, scoring two points. And leading scorer Svetlana Abrosimova, who has several nagging injuries, played only 16 minutes and had six points.

Pittsburgh didn't have a double-figure scorer -- Sheila Stufflet and Jackie Campbell had eight each -- while shooting 31.7 percent (13-of-41). Despite committing 22 turnovers, UConn shot 47 percent (31-of-66) as Schumacher was 9-of-11.

The crowd of 3,814 is believed to be the largest to watch a regular season women's game in Pittsburgh.

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