USC LOSES BIG UPSET CHANCE DOWN 15 POINTS, UCONN RALLIES BEHIND TAURASI TO TOP TROJANS UCONN 72, USC 69.

Byline: Ramona Shelburne  Staff Writer

Save, Taurasi.

After trailing USC by as many as 15 points in the first half, Diana Taurasi scored nine of her game-high 26 points in the final 2:39 as top-ranked Connecticut escaped with a 72-69 victory over the Trojans in front of an announced 6,172 at the Sports Arena on Sunday.

``In the last five minutes, you know she's going to make the shots she takes, no matter how many she's missed during the game,'' UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. ``But there were a lot of other players who helped put us in a position for Dee to win the game for us.''

Before her torrid finish, Taurasi had been 2 of 9 from the field in the second half. UConn (6-0), which has won 73 consecutive games, entered the half trailing for only the sixth time since the beginning of the 2001-02 season. The Huskies have won five of those six games and have a record of 82-1 in that span.

``We could've easily panicked and started throwing up 3-pointers, but we just stayed composed and let it play out,'' said Taurasi, who grew up in Chino and was concluding a homecoming trip that began Friday night against Pepperdine. ``But there's just something about this team's character that we're never going to give up.''

For USC (1-3), it was a lost opportunity to make an impact on the national stage after an underachieving 2002 season, when it went 14-17.

But this could be something to build on for the rest of this season.

Freshman Eshaya Murphy, the Daily News Player of the Year at Montclair Prep of Panorama City in 2002, had the best game of her young career with 13 points and five rebounds.

``Honestly, I thought we should've won it,'' Murphy said. ``We all believed we could beat this team.''

The Trojans built a 15-point lead midway through the first half by holding the Huskies scoreless for 6:33. In that span, USC outscored the Huksies 13-0 on five UConn turnovers and five consecutive field goals, two of them 3-pointers.

Connecticut went on an 11-1 run to close the half. The Huskies scored five points in the final six seconds of the half on a 3-pointer by Maria Conlon and a steal and layup by Barbara Turner.

``All we had to do was put the dagger in at the beginning, but we lost focus a little bit and good teams like that will make you pay,'' said USC center Ebony Hoffman, who scored 13 of her team-high 15 points in the first half. ``It shouldn't have came down to the last shot. We were up by 15 and it should've stayed 15.''

USC held a slim lead until 10:43 left in the second half, when Taurasi threw a long pass to Ann Strother streaking down the left sideline. She went in for an uncontested layup to give UConn a 53-52 lead.

But the Trojans wouldn't die and the teams traded leads four times until Taurasi's heroics. The Trojans even had a chance to tie the game at the end, but Rachel Woodward's 3-pointer attempt hit off the rim as time expired.

``From my vantage point, I thought it was going in because that's how this night seemed to be going. I thought it was in and we'd have five more minutes of this,'' Auriemma said. ``What's a little comforting, though, is that USC earned their 15 point lead on us, we didn't give it to them. ... I don't know if there are many other teams that would've won this game and done what we did.

``But when you win the championships we have, with the kind of players we have, I don't think there was any doubt in anyone's mind that we could come back and win.''

Ramona Shelburne, [phone]

ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

USC's Meghan Gnekow, left, pulls a rebound away from Connecticut's Morgan Valley during Sunday's game.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer