The Huskies and coach Geno Auriemma won their 11th championship Tuesday night and fourth in a row. The Huskies roared to a 9-0 lead in the first 3 minutes 27 seconds, using a pair of three-pointers from Stewart and Jefferson to help build the lead.
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And it affixed a bright blue bow on a sixth undefeated season that will take the Huskies into next year on a 75-game winning streak, 15 short of tying their all-time record.
Bill Unterstein of Tolland said he was going to tune in from the comfort of his Tolland living room, but anticipated a tense beginning.
Syracuse’s Briana Day, left, and Connecticut’s Kia Nurse (11) battle for a rebound during the second half of the championship game at the women’s Final Four in the NCAA college basketball tournament Tuesday, April 5, 2016, in. “Of course she nixed them to go to UConn”.
“It’s unbelievable, ” said Stewart.
As the fourth quarter played out, it was clear this was UConn’s game.
“It is a little insane that it is over but I am really excited”, Jefferson said.
SU’s women got themselves a round further – to the championship game – but the Connecticut Huskies, as ESPN told you all week and all game tonight, were just too good to beat. With Tuesday’s victory, Auriemma passed the Wizard of Westwood with his 11th national title.
“We’ve lost by single digits”, Hillsman said.
“Three people are directly responsible for eight of them”, he said.
For UConn’s seniors, they delivered on a goal of winning four straight titles.
Stewart will leave the game with her name all over the NCAA tournament record books. And that, more than UConn’s march to history, is the story line that should get a bit more press.
They began knighting each other with a sword and started it off with Breanna Stewart. The Huskies, however, stuck a buzzer-beating three for a 28-13 lead after one. They won the only way they know how: with a stunning amount of physicality, speed and timely shooting. The University of CT extended its reign over NCAA women’s basketball to a fourth consecutive season.
Four years later, Breanna Stewart can look back on her freshman year declaration and understand why it was received with such surprise. She was bandaged up and finished the half with 14 points. We also know otherwise.
Stewart and her fellow seniors Morgan Tuck and Moriah Jefferson posed on the ladder after cutting down the net for the final time. The Huskies took a 50-23 lead into the locker room after Tournament Most Outstanding Player Breanna Stewart knocked down a jumper in the waning seconds of the half.
Breen said a celebration on campus is tentatively scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The loss put a damper on the finest season in Syracuse women’s basketball history. I congratulate the entire team on bringing an eleventh NCAA championship title back home to CT.
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Here is what they will say: The greatest senior class in the history of the game, and their architect, Geno Auriemma, did something no one had ever done before, not Pat Summitt’s Lady Vols, not John Wooden’s Bruins. If the opponent was a surprise, her stat-sheet stuffing was not, considering that, earlier this season, Stewart became the only women’s basketball player with 400 blocks and 400 assists for her career. “This is an extraordinary moment for our state to celebrate”.
