Geno Auriemma and the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team started the season with one goal. And that was to win a national title and reestablish Storrs, CT as the women’s basketball capital of the world.
With an absolutely monster game from Tina Charles, UConn can now call itself National Champions again as they took down the Louisville Cardinals 76-54 in front of 18,478 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
For the Huskies, this is there 6th national championship and first since 2004. They also won it in 1995, 2000, 2002 and 2003. It’s also the third time they have finished the season undefeated doing it in 1995 (35-0) and 2002 (39-0). And they are also the 5th team to finish the season undefeated as Texas finished undefeated in 1986 and Tennessee in 1998 did it as well.
Charles, who was named the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, played probably the best game she’s ever played in her three years at UConn. She has 25 points, 19 rebounds and was the reason why UConn won the game tonight. Without her stepping up her game, this game may have been closer.
In her final game at UConn, Renee Montgomery finished with 18 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals on just 5-of-14 shooting. Maya Moore also had a rough night from the floor as she was 7-of-18 but finished with 18 points, 9 rebounds and team-highs of 5 assists and 3 steals. Kalana Greene chipped in with 9 points and 5 rebounds while Tiffany Hayes had 5.
Angel McCoughtry’s final game at Louisville started fast but went south as the game went on as she went cold. She did finish the game with 23 points on just 9-of-24 shooting and also added 9 rebounds. The only other Cardinals player in double figures was Candyce Bingham who had 10 points.
This game was very close early on as McCoughtry was a one man wrecking crew. She had 11 of Louisville’s first 17 points as the teams went back and forth with the lead. But that was the last we would hear of McCoughtry on the scoreboard in the 1st half. With the score tied at 17, the Huskies went on a 6-0 run and seemingly seized control of the game.
With 6:14 to go in the half, Becky Burke drained a 3-pointer to cut UConn’s lead to 26-22. But that was as close as the Cardinals would get the rest of the way. Their last basket of the first half would come at the 4:43 mark when Bingham made a jumper to UConn’s lead to 6 at 30-24. The Cardinals missed their last 10 shots of the half and only got a free throw from Monique Reid. The Huskies closed out the half on a 9-1 run to take a 37-25 lead at the break.
Charles had 15 points and 12 rebounds at this point in the game as she could not be stopped down low.
Just like the national semifinal game, any chance of UConn’s opponent coming back and win was put to rest as Louisville missed their first 8 shots and were held scoreless for the first 4:44 of the half. Meanwhile UConn had opened up with 9-0 run before Reid stopped the bleeding with a layup.
At this point, the game was really over and it was just a matter of playing out the final 15 minutes or so as UConn got the lead up to 26 points before ending up with the 22 point victory.
It was a marvelous run for the 2008-2009 UConn women’s team accomplishing what they did. They lost Caroline Doty to an ACL injury but never faltered. No one could touch the Huskies this season as it was their fate to win it all.
There couldn’t be a much better perfect ending for Montgomery who now ends her career as one of the best players in UConn women’s history. The other best part??
She can now call herself a national champion as well as her teammates.
Notes and musings:
Louisville Cardinals vs UConn Huskies 2009 Women’s Basketball National Championship Game Box score
The starters for the final time this season were Renee Montgomery, Tiffany Hayes, Maya Moore, Kalana Greene and Tina Charles.
This is the 6th national title for Geno Auriemma and the UConn women’s program. Only Pat Summitt and Tennesse have more with 8.
The Huskies won all 39 games by double digits and are the first team (men or women) to do that and go undefeated.
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma has now posted 71 NCAA Tournament wins in his career – tied Mike Krzyewski (71) for the second-most all-time in NCAA history (men’s and women’s).
Renee Montgomery extended streak of consecutive starts to 140 – a UConn record and the longest currently in the nation.
Renee Montgomery ends her career having played 150 games in her career – the most by any player in UConn history.
UConn’s 22-point margin of victory ties the second-largest in an NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship Game, falling just under Tennessee’s 23-point win over Louisiana Tech on March 29, 1987.
Tina Charles’ 19 rebounds mark a career-best effort.
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