A flawed victory for a flawed team. But still a victory. Still a trip to Atlanta.

Like many of UConn's performances, it was a tale of two teams. But despite the problems late, their composure held. Battle had a great game for UConn; she, along with Conlon and Moore, have been getting big minutes.

The Boilermakers didn't figure out that UConn is not invincible until too late. Eight good minutes was not enough. Lots of pressure by taller Husky guards led to an off night for Valek. "We wanted to be remembered as the team that didn't back down," said Shereka Wright. In that sense, mission partially accomplished. Mary Jo Noon played pretty well, but fouled out in her last college game.