SAN ANTONIO – Perfection.

The University of Connecticut women’s basketball team captured back-to-back NCAA titles Tuesday night and did it without losing a single game for the second straight season.

But Tuesday night’s record-setting performance didn’t come without a challenge from Stanford, which led pretty much the entire first half but ended up falling 53-47.

It was the only game during the 78-game winning streak that the Huskies had won by single digits.

This has been quite a season for Connecticut, which surpassed its own record for consecutive victories of 70 games, which was set by the 2001-03 Huskies.

The winning streak is now just 10 games short of the all-time mark set by John Wooden and the UCLA Bruins during the early 1970s.

“There is no company. He has no company. He’s a pretty special coach and special guy,” Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said. “I’m just thankful for this group of kids because I know how hard they’ve worked and how much they’ve put into this. I think for the first time all year, they felt a little bit of pressure tonight. I’m just happy to be their coach.”

Stanford came out with a great game plan against Connecticut and were able to maintain a lead throughout much of the opening 20 minutes of play.

The Cardinal took a 20-12 lead into the locker room at the intermission.

The Huskies were terrible from the field in the first half, hitting just 5-of-19 from the field and 2-of-12 from 3-point range. Connecticut also misfired on all four of its free throw opportunities.

But things changed in the second half, and they were noticeable right from the start.
The Huskies came out attacking and after a 17-2 run to open the final 20 minutes of basketball this season, found themseves ahead.

The charge was led by Maya Moore, who spent a great deal of time on the bench in the first half.
Moore, a junior, scored 11 of Connecticut’s first 17 points in the second half and finished the night with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

“Maya is obviously the best player that you can think of when you need points, so when she’s making shots, the rest of the team feels like, ‘wow, we can accomplish anything.”

When she’s not making shots, I think there’s a lot of pressure on the other kids and I was worried, too, because the two sophomores early on really played like sophomores. Then Caroline (Doty) came out and just was unbelievable, unbelievable. I can’t say enough about this whole group,” Ariemma said.

The Huskies (39-0) also got nine points, 11 rebounds and six blocks from senior Tina Charles.

Kayla Pedersen led Stanford with 15 points, while Nnemkadi Ogwumike and Jeanette Pohlen both scored 11.

The Cardinal finish the season at 36-2, with both losses coming at the hands of the Huskies.

The win by Connecticut gave Auriemma his seventh national championship, one shy of tying Tennessee coach Pat Summitt for the most in NCAA women’s history.

The game, which was played at the Alamodome, was the lowest scoring NCAA title game in history.