Her class batted 1.000 in national championships – four for four.
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With just under 2 minutes left to play and the score at 80-51, Auriemma called a timeout to sub out Stewart, Jefferson and fellow Huskies senior Morgan Tuck, the three of whom made up the core of the team.
On Tuesday, Syracuse finally was overmatched by the ideal team and watched dejectedly as the clock wound down. Stewart, Tuck and Jefferson combined to outscore Syracuse 56-51. Nurse scored 33 points for Canada and celebrated on home soil.
UConn women’s basketball reigns again.
“There has not been one day when I had any doubt, whatsoever, that they would be here at this moment doing what they did”.
Stewart will leave the game with her name all over the NCAA tournament record books. The Huskies did not have a single-digit margin of victory all season. They deserve the celebration. Auriemma has never lost a championship game. That comes with the territory.
“It’s definitely tough”, she said.
She played 39 minutes in the final, more than any other player, and took just six shots.
Stewart earned the most outstanding player of the Final Four all four years of her career.
CT senior Breanna Stewart capped off her brilliant career with a fourth straight national championship – a feat never accomplished before in Division I women’s basketball. She was also, essentially, an apprentice.
“Mike Neighbors agrees. The third-year Washington head coach had to prep his team for the national semifinal against Syracuse on Sunday night, which Washington would lose 80-59, but because he was already in town, made sure to swing by the coaches” convention, too.
“I think it helps a lot, ” Orange forward Taylor Ford said of the recruiting impact. We talk about being in this game.
This title is nearly ironic for Stewart, who has a soft spot for Syracuse. “When the lights were the brightest, that’s [when] she was at her best”. He’s trying to fire you up in a certain way. UConn’s other senior, Briana Pulido, came on the the final minutes. As she walked to the bench, Auriemma blocked her path. This time there was no criticism, no glare and no harsh words. “But it was a great feeling to get another one under your belt”. “This is when you are going after championships, so why wouldn’t you be your best in March?” Her 24 points, three 3s and ten rebounds were all more than anyone else on the floor Tuesday night.
“My preference in the National Basketball Association is that these young men spend more time in college”, he said. I had one of the kids in my office – Gabby Williams was in my office last week and she was a little bit emotional talking about next year. “Forget that I’m a coach, as a spectator, watching it, it’s a joke”.
That’s what an apprentice should say, with some bonus points for eloquence. “She’s a great player”.
With consecutive 3-pointers from Stewart and Jefferson, the Huskies raced to a 13-4 lead.
There was one brief glimpse of what that defense looked like for most of this season.
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While he missed on Stewart coming out of Cicero-North Syracuse four years ago, heading into this offseason the spotlight of the program’s first-ever Final Four should give Hillsman an even easier time getting an audience with the handful of difference-makers coming out of high school basketball every year. “Once we got the flow of the game at our pace, we started to get those stops and those baskets”.
