MILWAUKEE — The round of 16 ended a little sour for the Penn State women's basketball team.

The Lady Lions (23-12) played an inspired first half of basketball on Saturday but could not pull off an upset, losing to No. 1 Connecticut, 82-64, in the Mideast Regional Semifinals of the NCAA Tournament at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

The first half shocked many fans as the Lady Lions went shot-for-shot with the undefeated Huskies (36-0) and trailed by only six at halftime. The freshmen tandem of guards Tanisha Wright and Jess Strom led Penn State as they each tallied nine points and four assists in the half.

"I think we're a pretty good defensive team and they made us look bad," said Geno Auriemma, Huskies' head coach.

The Lions might have been able to gain a halftime edge if not for a relatively poor performance by co-captain Kelly Mazzante. The sophomore had just seven points in the first half and was a dismal 2-for-9 from the field.

"When you have a really good player like Kelly Mazzante, it's not so much how many she gets, but how many the other guys get," Auriemma said. "In the first half, we did a very poor job of that, and I thought in the second half we certainly changed things around and played much better, and that's why we're here."

Although Penn State did cut the lead to one shortly after the break, the Huskies played a patient game and began to pull away. Two major contributors were senior forward Tamika Williams and senior guard Sue Bird. Williams led all players with 12 rebounds and scored 13 tough inside points, while Bird, the Naismith Player of the Year, led all scorers with 24 points. The Lions were outplayed under the rim, as UConn out-rebounded Penn State 50-33. Many of the Huskies' boards came after missed free throws, perhaps their biggest weakness but one that Penn State was unable to exploit.

"I think rebounding is always a key," said Huskies' forward Swin Cash. "Tamika (Williams) and Asjha (Jones) did a great job and got some big offensive rebounds from the free throw line."

Cash was one of five Huskies to finish with double-figures in scoring, tallying 10 points. Jones piled up 13 and sophomore guard Diana Taurasi had 15, nine from beyond the arc.

For Penn State, Wright led the way with 18 points while Strom contributed 12. Mazzante finished with 15 points but was just 6-for-21 from the field.

"I'm obviously very proud of our players but there were certain times when Connecticut took it to a whole new level," said Rene Portland, Lions' head coach. "With 13 minutes to go in the second half it just got away from us a little bit."

The play of the freshmen starters and contributions from the bench injected life into the Lions' game, but ultimately they did not have enough in their tanks to go the distance with the best team in the nation.

"We kind of got sparked by that and just went on a run of our own," Bird said. "Once we went up 10, you just kind of got the feeling that they were losing gas and we were gaining energy from scoring like that."

Portland agreed that in the waning minutes of the game Strom looked "like she wanted to have a heart attack," but the veterans on UConn's roster seemed to get stronger.

"I think in the first half we kept it interesting, but it's disappointing because we kept thinking 'why not? Why not us?'" Portland said.