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BRIDGEPORT — It’s clear some folks think UConn’s domination of women’s basketball is boring, bad for the game, nothing more than the snooze button you hit 40 times a year. Oh well, everyone is entitled to an opinion.

But on Monday at Webster Bank Arena, all the Huskies did again was enrapture a crowd that has come to love them for their authoritativeness over the past two decades.

UConn rocked the place during the Bridgeport Regional, filling it with the unique brand of exhilarating basketball that has become synonymous with its brand name.

On Saturday, Mississippi State fell with a thud. And on Monday, in what Geno Auriemma has called the toughest game of the season to win, the Huskies put tough Texas on the canvas.

Led by Morgan Tuck’s 22 points and six assists, the Huskies won 86-65 before a crowd of 9,008 to advance to their ninth straight Final Four and 17th overall.

“Congratulations to Connecticut,” Texas coach Karen Aston said. “I thought they did a phenomenal job, especially shooting the ball [56.4 percent]. We tried to give them as many looks defensively as we possibly could. But they have an answer for just about everything you give them.”

The Huskies are two victories from their fourth national championship in a row and their record 11th. The Huskies (36-0) will play Oregon State on Sunday in the national semifinals in Indianapolis.

“I tell you the same thing I said to the team,” Geno Auriemma said. “This game is the most difficult game to win. I say that every time we play one because it’s true. And it showed tonight. We played against a really good team that really tested us at both ends of the floor. It forced our best players to play great. That’s exactly what you need at this time of the tournament.

“You don’t want to be going to the Final Four thinking games will be easy. In spite of the score, this was by no means easy at all.”

Breanna Stewart had 21 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, and Moriah Jefferson had 11 points and nine assists.

Ariel Atkins and Lashann Higgs each scored 19 points for the Longhorns.

And with that, the in-state careers of Stewart, Jefferson, Briana Pulido and likely Tuck have come to an end. Stewart, Jefferson and Tuck have won 149 games at UConn. The Huskies’ winning streak is 73.

On Saturday, the Huskies got the party started early against the Bulldogs, opening a 32-4 lead after the first quarter. The idea was to force the Longhorns into submission the same way.

But the Longhorns, who had lost three times to Baylor but just once to anyone else before Monday, did not go as quickly or easily.

This was not Mississippi State.

There seemed to be no fear, and in the first half when things did not go well, they didn’t just accept their fate. They fought back.

“You could tell that they thought they could win,” Aston said of her team.

Consider that they actually outrebounded the Huskies 34-29, just the third team this season to do so. Texas’ transition defense was so sharp that UConn had only two fastbreak points. And from the 14 turnovers they created, the Huskies scored only one point. The Longhorns tried hard. They thought they could win.

Tuck began the game with four points in the first 1:07, one basket from the baseline, another on a reverse. And she drained a three-pointer with 5:41 to play in the first to give the Huskies a 12-6 lead. Moments later, Katie Lou Samuelson’s three-pointer made it 15-6.

“I was just trying to read how the game was being played,” Tuck said.

But behind Atkins, the Longhorns rallied. She scored eight straight points, and when Brooke McCarty chipped in a three with 1:18 to play in the quarter, Texas was down, 19-17.

“We talked about how they tend to capitalize on their runs,” Texas center Imani Boyette said.

At this point, the Huskies got back to work. Three-pointers by Kia Nurse and Tuck made it 30-21. But Texas still wouldn’t relent.

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In wasn’t until Auriemma inserted freshman Napheesa Collier that air began to be pumped into the lead. In the last 3:16 of the first half, Collier was 3-for-3 from the field with four rebounds and an assist, and soon the lead swelled to 46-29.

Tuck and Stewart led the Huskies in the first half with 10 points each. Stewart added seven rebounds. UConn was also 7-for-12 on three-pointers.

Atkins had 12 for the Longhorns, who actually held a rebounding advantage (17-16) in the first 20 minutes.

Texas showed its gumption again in the third quarter.

The Huskies opened it up with threes from Samuelson and Jefferson to give them a 52-31 lead.

But within minutes the Longhorns were at it again, getting three-pointers from three players to cut the lead to 54-42.

“Morgan, Moriah and I just said, ‘All right, we have to do this. We have to take over and take control,'” Stewart said. “We’re the most experienced, and we’re the ones who should do it.”