Milwaukee ? Sue Bird and the unbeaten Connecticut Huskies bounced the party crashers right out of the NCAA tournament.

Bird scored a career-high 26 points and dished 11 assists as UConn, seeking its third national title in the last eight years, advanced to the Final Four by beating Old Dominion 85-64 Monday night with a dazzling first-half display.

The Monarchs (28-6), miffed at their No. 7 seeding, used the perceived slight to fuel surprising victories over second-seeded Purdue and third-seeded Kansas State. But they could only watch helplessly as the top-ranked and top-seeded Huskies (37-0) made their first 13 shots and sank their first five free throws in racing to a 34-14 lead less than 10 minutes into the Mideast Regional final.

“Everything went our way, everything was just clicking,” Bird said. “We were running our break, running our offense and getting a lot of layups. And considering it was the biggest game of the year, that’s the best we’ve played.”

And the best team in the country playing its best basketball of the year was the last thing the Monarchs needed.

Over the weekend, Old Dominion coach Wendy Larry, whose team lost to the Huskies by 14 in December, but had won 21 in row, said: “We’re in a position now to ruin parties.”

To which UConn coach Geno Auriemma jokingly retorted: “Party crashers usually get beat up or arrested, don’t they?”

They were turned away at the door Monday night.

With a dominating display of crisp passing and accurate shooting, the Huskies jumped to a 20-4 lead in less than five minutes. They sank 19 of their first 21 shots from the field before “settling” for a 75 percent mark (21-of-28) at halftime, when they were up 55-33.

“We dug ourselves a huge hole,” Larry said. “The University of Connecticut’s first 20 minutes is some of the finest basketball I think I’ve ever witnessed.”

So fine that the Huskies were in cruise control after halftime, their lead never dipping below 14 as they finished with a 63.8 shooting percentage.

“The first 20 minutes was about as good as you can hope to play,” Auriemma said. “We can’t play much better than we played. It’s as proud of my team as I’ve ever been in all my years of coaching.”

The Huskies will play Tennessee in San Antonio next weekend in search of their third NCAA title and second unbeaten season under Auriemma, who won championships in 1995 and 2000.

It’s the third Final Four appearance for seniors Bird, Asjha Jones, Swin Cash and Tamika Williams  considered the top recruiting class in the game’s history.

Old Dominion was seeking its first Final Four trip since losing to Tennessee in the 1997 championship.

But Lucienne Berthieu, the Monarchs’ leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, managed just six points and four rebounds after getting into early foul trouble and spending most of the night on the bench.

“She got frustrated and kind of got out of whack,” Larry said. “It wasn’t about her foul trouble. It was just to get her to calm down a little bit.”

Old Dominion got within 14 points at 72-58 with 6:12 left when Okeisha Howard, who led the Monarchs with 20 points, made two free throws. But UConn responded with four free throws, two by sophomore Diana Taurasi, who scored 22, and two by Bird, and the Monarchs were done.