UConn women to face Idaho in NCAA opener

UConn, as expected, was seeded No. 1 in the Bridgeport Regional of the NCAA women's basketball tournament Monday night and the Huskies will face 16th-seeded Idaho in the first round on Saturday at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs at 1:30 p.m.

Idaho, 17-15, earned an automatic bid after winning the Western Athletic Conference. The UConn-Idaho winner will face the winner of another first round game on Saturday in Storrs between No. 8 Vanderbilt (20-11) and No. 9 Saint Joseph's (23-8) at 11 a.m. The second round game is Monday, March 25, at 7 p.m.

The No. 2 seed in the Bridgeport Regional is Kentucky, which features former Norwich Free Academy great Kastine Evans. UConn beat the Wildcats in last year's regional final.

Defending champion Baylor, Big East champion Notre Dame and Pac-12 champion Stanford are the other No. 1 seeds. The Huskies (29-4) are 1-4 against those three this year, beating Stanford, losing to Baylor and going 0-3 against Notre Dame.

It is the second straight year the same four schools were No. 1 seeds. Should all four advance to the Final Four in New Orleans, UConn and Notre Dame would meet for the fourth time in the national semifinals.