updated 1:33 p.m. ET March 29, 2006

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Duke was blazing through the NCAA tournament, winning by an average of 43 points. Finally faced with an equal opponent, the Blue Devils showed they have what every Final Four team needs — the guts to grind out a close one.

“That was the most beautiful ugly win we’ve ever had,” Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said after the Blue Devils’ 63-61 overtime win over Connecticut on Tuesday night. “We’re just elated to be going back to the Final Four.”

The top-seeded Blue Devils shot 29 percent, let the smaller Huskies push them around for long stretches, scored fewer points than they had all season and still fought through it all to win the first NCAA tournament meeting of the two national powers.

“I think this was probably really good for us,” Goestenkors said. “They say almost every tournament, there’s always one game where you don’t play well and you’ve got to find a way to win. Hopefully this was our one game.”

Duke advances to Boston — where it will play LSU — after surviving one of the NCAA tournament’s toughest stops: UConn had won 29 straight tournament games in Connecticut.

Alison Bales dominated inside with 15 points, 13 rebounds and eight blocks in the Bridgeport Regional final to lead the top-seeded Blue Devils to their fourth Final Four.

Duke (30-3) joins North Carolina and Maryland to give the Atlantic Coast Conference three Final Four teams, the first time one league has had three-fourths of the national semifinals.

The Huskies will miss the Final Four for the second straight year after reaching it an unprecedented five consecutive times.

WOMEN’S NCAA TOURNAMENT RESULTS Monday's, Tuesday's games BRIDGEPORT REGIONAL Duke 63, UConn 61, OT CLEVELAND REGIONAL North Carolina 75, Tennessee 63 SAN ANTONIO REGIONAL LSU 62, Stanford 59 ALBUQUERQUE REGIONAL Maryland 75, Utah 65, OT

“They say you really don’t understand what winning is. You really don’t appreciate what winning is until you’ve had your share of losing. I think the opposite is also true,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “I think you can’t quite fathom how much losing hurts when you have had as many chances to win, that we had, over the years.”

Barbara Turner led second-seeded UConn (32-5) with 19 points and 12 rebounds but could only watch from the bench in the closing minute when leg cramps forced her out of the game.

It was Turner that got UConn to the regional final with a fallaway 3-pointer at the buzzer in the semifinal over Georgia on Sunday. She pounded her chair repeatedly as the final seconds against Duke unfolded in front of her.

“It was very frustrating, especially when you go out and play hard for the last 40 odd minutes and you can’t be out there the last 12 seconds with your team, to win or lose the game. It was tough to watch,” Turner said.

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UConn’s Mel Thomas sent the game into overtime with a jumper with 20.7 left in regulation to tie it at 55-all.

The teams traded buckets in the first minute of the extra period and then Bales put Duke ahead for good with a pair of free throws. She came right back with a block on a driving Renee Montgomery.

Monique Currie hit all four of her free throws down the stretch to stretch the Blue Devils’ lead to 63-58.

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