Card unable to hold lead, falls in title game

Last night, Connecticut sealed a perfect two years with a 53-47 victory over Stanford in the national championship game at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Tex.

The Cardinal (36-2, 18-0 Pac-10) led by eight points at the half to hold the Huskies (39-0, 16-0 Big East) to their biggest deficit in their entire undefeated run, but UConn’s junior forward Maya Moore hit her stride in the second half to take the title.

Stanford won the tip-off, but neither team could make a basket in the first minute, taking poor shots that marred most of the first half. When sophomore guard Tiffany Hayes opened a 5-0 lead, it looked a little ominous for the Card, but Stanford then went on a 12-0 run as Connecticut missed 18 straight shots to stay scoreless for 10 minutes. The Cardinal held on to lead 20-12 at halftime.

It was a bad performance by UConn, and could well have cost it the title if the Cardinal women had managed to fully capitalize on their opponent’s failings. Finishing the half with a 25.8 shooting percentage from the field, Stanford was barely more accurate than its opponents, who shot 17.2 percent.

Defensively, Connecticut pressured the Card deep into the backcourt right from the start, and had success in keeping its opponent from penetrating into the paint. Stanford meanwhile gave its opposition more room to run, but succeeded in frustrating it nonetheless, as senior center Jayne Appel blocked out UConn senior center Tina Charles, leading the Cardinal to succeed on the glass.

As history repeated itself from December, when Stanford had led at the half only to lose out by the final buzzer in Storrs, Conn., the Huskies came back strongly in the second period. In the first eight minutes, they outscored the Card 17-2 to reverse the gap, with Wade Trophy winner Moore personally hitting 11 of those points.

In comparison, the Cardinal struggled to improve as its big players became marginalized. Appel was struggling with the sprained ankle that has plagued her since the beginning of March, and when she turned it again under the Stanford basket, her team was effectively left without one of the best players ever to wear Cardinal red. Looking anxious from the sidelines, she managed to return, but clearly was not fully fit, and none of her 12 attempts on basket hit home.

Without Appel’s presence on court, fellow All-American sophomore forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike could not escape from the attentions of the UConn defense, which time after time doubled up on her to block shots that have fallen true all year long.

The game looked over as the favored Huskies pulled away to a 16-point lead with just two and a half minutes remaining, but three straight three-pointers by junior forward Kayla Pedersen and junior guard Jeanette Pohlen suddenly opened a glimmer of a chance for Stanford. Taking a gamble, head coach Tara VanDerveer told her team to foul UConn to risk the damage from free throws but get the ball back and keep time on the clock, but the Huskies were much improved from the charity stripe and hit enough to seal the win.

At guard, Pac-10 co-Defender of the Year and redshirt senior Rosalyn Gold-Onwude played just 11 minutes, with redshirt junior guards Melanie Murphy and JJ Hones, who have both struggled with injuries all year long, seeing game time in her place. The Cardinal could have done with the defensive, and offensive, presence that Gold-Onwude showed throughout the Pac-10 season.

In the end, though, UConn deservedly became the first team in women’s college basketball to go two entire seasons undefeated, running its record win streak to 78 games.

“People said, ‘How are you going to react the first time you’re in a close game?’” said Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma. “Well, we reacted the way champions do.”

For now, the season is over, and the last ball has been played. Appel and Gold-Onwude have completed their collegiate careers, and five UConn players will graduate in June.

But the rivalry does not end here. The Huskies will head to California to play at Maples in December, where, even with the substantial personnel changes forced by the absence of this year’s seniors, both teams should still be national powers.

Moore returns in her final year for Connecticut, and so do Stanford starters Ogwumike, Pedersen and Pohlen, who all hit double figures in points in the final, with Ogwumike and Pedersen making double-doubles.