STORRS, Conn. -- Although Tennessee's 72-71 upset of top-ranked Connecticut on Wednesday wasn't clinched until 4.4 seconds remained, a late first-half run by the Lady Vols proved just as important as Semeka Randall's game-winning shot.

	Tamika Catchings led the Lady Vols with 19 points.

In the first half, No. 4 Tennessee's other half of the "Meek" link was the one making the difference.

With her team trailing by 12 points, Tamika Catchings gave the Lady Vols the jumpstart they needed. With 1 minute, 41 seconds left in the half, Catchings sank a free throw, then added a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds to play to cap a 6-0 run which cut UConn's lead to six -- 34-28 -- at the break.

"I think (the 3-pointer) gave us a lot of confidence," said Catchings, who violently pumped the air with her fist as her long-range shot eased through the net. "I had looked up before and we were down by 11 or so, but heading into halftime I looked up again and we were only down by six.

"Then we came out in the second half and finished it up."

Indeed. Tennessee (17-3) opened the second half with another eight unanswered points, including two foul shots from Catchings, to gain its first lead of the game, 36-34, with 17:55 to play.

Although the lead changed hands eight more times before the final buzzer blew -- including three times in the last 28 seconds -- Catchings' first-half heroics paved the way for the victory, said Tennessee coach Pat Summitt.

"I thought the end of the first half gave us the momentum going into the locker room ... we were very positive at halftime and had a lot of energy," said Summitt, whose Vols handed UConn (19-1) its first loss of the season. "And when we came out of the dressing room, everyone was still very positive and that was a boost for our team."

Tennessee freshman point guard Kara Lawson agreed.

"We felt we had played lousy in the first half, but for us to be only trailing by six points was huge," she said. "Tamika really kept us in the game, especially when they (Huskies) were hitting huge shots."

Catchings, who finished with a team-high 19 points, including 11 in the second half, helped keep Tennessee in the game, but it was Randall who won it. After falling behind by as many as eight points, Connecticut clawed its way back into the game, largely due to UConn sophomore Tamika Williams' 13 second-half points. But after the Huskies had regained the lead at 66-65 with 3:45 to play, the Vols and Huskies traded baskets until the final few seconds.

Randall's short bank shot with 28.1 seconds left gave Tennessee a brief 70-69 lead before Williams responded at the other end. After a timeout, Randall -- slicing through three Huskies -- sank a mid-range jumper with 4.4 seconds remaining to cap the scoring. Randall finished with 17 points, including six in the final two minutes.

Although UConn was able to get back into the game after its early second-half stall, Williams said Catchings' late first-half run "deflated" the Huskies.

UConn junior Shea Ralph, the Huskies' leading scorer and emotional leader, was more impressed with Catchings' game-high 13 rebounds.

"Every time the ball was on the backboards, she went in there and pulled it down," said Ralph, who scored 16 for UConn. "She's a big-time player and you expect for her to do that. But we have to find a way stop that if we play again."

Maybe the third time around -- which likely would have to come in the Final Four in Philadelphia -- would be the charm for the Huskies. Still, despite Catchings' and Randall's performances Wednesday, Ralph said the game came down to fundamentals.

"Since we played a month ago," she said, referring to Tennessee's 74-67 victory in Knoxville, "they (Vols) made huge improvements and we didn't."

In Catchings' case, she just played better the second time around. When UConn beat Tennessee on Jan. 8, Catchings attempted fewer than 10 shots in 36 minutes, going 3-for-9 from the field to score a season-low eight points. Wednesday, she was 5-of-13 overall and 2-for-4 from 3-point range.

Lawson said Catchings' performance was just another solid night.

"Tamika Catchings is the best player in college basketball, in my opinion," Lawson said. "She can shoot, rebound, play defense, inside and outside and shoot the 3-pointer. She has all those combinations of skills, and she showed it tonight."