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Acting coach Bob Starkey remains unbeaten for Tigers, who earn date with Rutgers.

Louisiana State’s Allison Hightower tries to block the shot of Connecticut’s Kalana Greene in the first half of the NCAA women’s basketball Fresno regional championship game on Monday, in Fresno, Calif.

AP photo

FRESNO, Calif. — The talk coming into the NCAA tournament was about the coach LSU was missing. It’s the center who is still dominating the middle that lifted the Lady Tigers to their fourth straight Final Four.
Sylvia Fowles overpowered Connecticut with 23 points, 15 rebounds and an intimidating defensive performance that led third-seeded LSU to a 73-50 victory over the top-seeded Huskies on Monday night in the Fresno Regional final.
A team in turmoil heading into the tournament after head coach Pokey Chatman abruptly resigned March 7 amid allegations of improper conduct with a former player, LSU (30-7) shook off any distractions and won four straight games under acting coach Bob Starkey.
The longtime assistant for both the men’s and women’s programs at LSU has an undefeated record as a head coach and looks to end his career that way with two more wins next week in Cleveland. Starkey said he has no aspirations to become the full-time coach.
LSU will play Rutgers in Sunday’s national semifinal. The Scarlet Knights (26-8) beat Arizona State 64-45 earlier Monday night.
Connecticut (32-4) will be left watching the Final Four for the third straight year after making it that far the previous five seasons. This matches UConn’s longest Final Four drought since making its first in 1991.
It was the Huskies’ most lopsided tournament loss since losing 75-47 to Vanderbilt in the second round in 1992.
The Huskies, who won 72-71 at LSU last month, had no answers for Fowles, who dominated the game right from the start.
With long arms, quick feet, and a 6-foot-6 frame, Fowles is an intimidating presence in the middle of the defense. She blocked six shots, altered many others, had three steals, deflected passes and forced the Huskies into bad shots and turnovers.
The two players Fowles guarded most often — Tina Charles and Kaili McLaren — each went 0-for-5 from the field. UConn shot 33 percent overall.
Fowles even showed off her passing skills with a pretty backdoor assist to RaShonta LeBlanc midway through the second half.
Fowles also got some help with some outside shooting from Allison Hightower and Ashley Thomas. Hightower hit three three-pointers in the first half and Thomas hit a pair in the second after the Huskies cut LSU’s lead to 12. The Lady Tigers led by at least 10 points for the final 26 minutes.
“Everybody always double teams Sylvia,” Thomas said. “We knew we had to come out tonight and knock down shots. I did it and my teammates did it.”
Thomas and Hightower scored 12 points apiece for LSU and Erica White added 11.
Renee Montgomery led UConn with 17 points and Mel Thomas added 13.
Rutgers 64, Arizona State 45
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Good Knight, Rutgers! C. Vivian Stringer and her scrappy Scarlet Knights are headed to the Final Four.
Kia Vaughn had 17 points and 10 rebounds while dominating the paint to power Rutgers to a victory over Arizona State in the Greensboro Regional finals, clinching the Scarlet Knights’ second trip to the national semifinals.
Matee Ajavon had 20 points, Essence Carson added 11 and Epiphanny Prince had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Scarlet Knights (26-8), who led by 24 and held a 48-26 rebounding advantage in winning their seventh straight.
Now it’s on to Cleveland, where they will face LSU from the Fresno Regional on Sunday in the Final Four.
The fourth-seeded Scarlet Knights (26-8) almost saw their season end Saturday when top-seeded Duke had a chance to win it in the final second. But ACC player of the year Lindsey Harding missed two free throws with 0.1 second left and Rutgers escaped with a stunning 53-52 upset.
The youthful Knights — who have five freshmen and no seniors on the roster — had no trouble dodging a letdown, dominating third-seeded Arizona State and pulling another upset to reach the Final Four for the second time and first since 2000.
The players hammed it up at midcourt, dancing as they donned championship caps and T-shirts while thanking the several hundred fans who made the trip to Tobacco Road.
Stringer, the first coach to lead three programs to the Final Four, is headed to college basketball’s biggest stage for the fourth time.
This deep tournament run came with a Rutgers team that became the lowest seed to reach the Final Four since 2004, when both fourth-seeded LSU and seventh-seeded Minnesota advanced that far.
This game was supposed to be a rematch of a November game in the Virgin Islands, but the game was canceled when the 15-year-old brother of Sun Devils forward Aubree Johnson died of an enlarged heart, and players and coaches from both sides credited fate with setting up this matchup.
Rutgers used tough defense to take command, holding Arizona State to one field goal during the first 8 1/2 minutes of the second half.
The Scarlet Knights gradually increased their lead with a basket here and a free throw there, all the while using occasionally relentless full-court pressure to turn the tables on the press-minded Sun Devils.