Nov. 24, 2007 — The women's bracket of the Paradise Jam Basketball Tournament continued on Friday at the UVI Sports and Fitness Center on St. Thomas, with the nation's 2nd- and 8th-ranked teams taking wins in their respective games and setting up a showdown for Sunday.
The No. 2 team, the UConn Huskies, were coming off an impressive 66-54 win over No. 4 Stanford on Thursday and kept it rolling against Old Dominion in an 86-43 rout.
The Huskies forced 20 turnovers in the game and dominated in the paint, outscoring the Lady Monarchs 52-24. It was a powerful performance all night by UConn, who finished the first half on a 15-1 run. Tina Charles led the Huskies with 15 points, seven rebounds and two blocks, while Renee Montgomery had 12 points.
The No. 8 ranked Duke Blue Devils, coming off a 53-41 victory over the No. 20 Purdue Boilermakers on Thursday, went up against the Temple Owls during Friday's session. This was Temple's first game of the tournament, but the Blue Devils prevailed, beating them 64-53.
Temple kept the score close for most of the game, but down the stretch, Duke's experience was too much for the Owls to overcome. Duke got a pair of double-doubles from forward Carren Gay and Karima Christmas. Gay finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, while Christmas had 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Temple couldn't find the range from behind the arc, going three for 11, and shooting 33 percent overall from the field.
The Duke win sets up a clash of powerhouses on Sunday night as they takes on the Huskies for the tournament championship. The game will start at 9:30 p.m.
Indiana, coming off a tough loss to Wake Forest on Thursday, took on Wichita State, who was also looking to rebound from a 70-36 blowout at the hands of Texas A&M.
Using their speed, Indiana outscored the Shockers 11-4 on the fast break. Led by forward Whitney Thomas — who was the catalyst for her team Friday night — the Hoosiers used a trap defense to help them pick up a team high 12 steals, with seven of them coming from Thomas. Thomas finished the game with 10 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Indiana started the second half with the same up-tempo pace, and managed to shoot 51 percent in the game, on their way to the 64-54 win. For Wichita State, Kiki Stephens finished with 14 points, to lead her team.
Both Wake Forest and Texas A&M, coming off wins the night before, wanted to keep their momentum going, as they locked up on the court during the second game of the day. But it was the Demon Deacons, shooting 52 percent from the floor, who pulled off the upset over the No. 11-ranked Aggies, 53-46.
Wake Forest's defense picked up where it left off on Thursday, holding the Aggies to 31 percent from the floor. Alex Tchangoue led Wake with 16 points and five rebounds.
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