Connecticut women upend Stanford to reach title game

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Connecticut Huskies are back in a very familiar position, undefeated and playing for a national championship.

They’ll be going for an unprecedented ninth NCAA title after Breanna Stewart scored 18 points and the Huskies advanced with a 75-56 victory against Stanford on Sunday night.

It wasn’t easy early, though the Huskies (39-0) did their part in setting up the highly anticipated championship showdown of undefeated teams.

They will square off against Notre Dame, an 87-61 winner over Maryland, on Tuesday night. It will be the first women’s national title game between unbeaten teams.

“It wouldn’t be any fun if you didn’t beat teams that were any good,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said of Notre Dame. “I think women’s basketball needs rivalries like this, teams that aspire to be great and want to win championships.”

Now Connecticut has both its men’s and women’s teams in championship games, with the men playing Kentucky tonight in Arlington, Texas.

“I think it’s awesome,” senior guard Bria Hartley said. “Our men are excited for us, and we’re doing the same for them. All the fans in Connecticut are really proud right now. ... Now the time has come, and we want to make sure we finish on a good note.”

The Huskies, who have won 45 consecutive games, had to overcome a sluggish start, with Stewart, the Associated Press Player of the Year, missing her first four shots and UConn coming from behind to lead 28-24 at halftime.

But Connecticut put away the Cardinal away in the second half, outscoring them 47-32 behind Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who scored all 15 of her points in the half.

“I think that at times we were a little jumpy and excited,” Stewart said. “Had to settle down and get into right rhythm of the game. (We) went on a run at the end of the first half and shots started falling.”

Hartley added 13 points for UConn and Stefanie Dolson and Moriah Jefferson each finished with 10.

Stanford (33-4) lost its third national semifinal since reaching the 2010 championship against UConn, which the Huskies also won. All-American Chiney Ogwumike finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Amber Orrange scored 16 points, and Lili Thompson had 12.

“It’s been an amazing remarkable experience to have Stanford on my jersey one last time,” Ogwumike said.

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer had promised the Cardinal wouldn’t go down easy, and her team never stopped competing. It didn’t help that the Cardinal didn’t take a free throw in the first half. The Huskies had a big edge there too — 17 of 24 — while Stanford was 8 of 10.

“We knew that biggest challenge for us was to score,” VanDerveer said. “We worked hard defensively, had a lot of good stops. Their size, when they went big, their size is really disruptive. Probably more than anything, they have very skilled players, play very well together.”